Sword Art Online: Shattered Chains
by Shadows of Vanity
Summary: Kirito had planned on beating SAO, with his friend Ailyn at his side. What he hadn't planned on was having something that was supposed to be fun, turn into a death-match for survival, one pitting he and his comrades against man and machine alike in a desperate bid for freedom. slightly!OOC Kirito, Kirito/Asuna/Harem. Eventual GuildMaster!Kirito. Read and Review!
1. Fulldive and Freedom Lost

Hey guys, here is my shot at a Sword Art Online fanfic. It's an awesome series, right? Well worthy to be written about!

This will be a Kirito/Asuna/Harem story. The harem is already more-or-less decided, but if you suggest someone and have a good reason (and they aren't already in the Harem) than I may add them!

Kirito will be slightly OOC in this story, but only with certain people. For example, he won't be as distant with Suguha in the beginning as he was in canon. There are a few reasons for this, some of which will be revealed through the story.

Kirito and my OC Ailyn will likely have their own guild, as opposed to joining KOB, or they might stay as Black Cats of the Full Moon. Haven't decided yet, but just putting that little thing out there. I will take name suggestions for their guild, if you like, but right now I am leaning towards _Hand of Sorrow_, _Aegis_, or _Shattered Chains._ _Freedom's Call _is up there as well.

Furthermore, some people that died in canon won't die here, simply because I like their characters. I won't say who, but feel free to guess!

I also need a beta reader.

Now, on to the story!

_**SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC**_

Sword Art Online: Shattered Chains

Chapter One

Fulldive and Freedom Lost

_**SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC**_

Kazuto Kirigaya stood before his rather impressive computer station, which he himself had constructed and set up, watching the news reel depicting the long lines and excited gamers waiting to buy, or having already bought, copies of the latest and greatest VRMMORPG, _Sword Art Online_. Black eyes watched steadily from beneath long black bangs that framed what most would describe as a rather feminine face, something that irritated him to no end when it is mentioned.

"Kazuto-kun, I'm going to kendo practice! I'll see you later, okay?" he heard his cousin, Suguha call through his door.

"Okay, Suguha-chan! Stay safe, and I'll help you with your homework later, okay?" he called back as he began to get his Nervegear ready for use. The technology, developed specifically by Kayaba Akihiko for _Sword Art Online_, would connect directly to his brain stem, allowing his mind to literally 'dive' into the game, resulting in the technology being referred to as "Full-dive".

"Okay!" he heard her cheer before she dashed down the stairs and out the door. Smiling slightly to himself, Kazuto lay down on his bed and slid his Nervegear headset on and powered up. His second cousin was always an energetic girl, and was one of the few people that he actually liked interacting with in reality, resulting in the pair of them spending a great deal of time together over the years. Even now, she was doing enough _kendo_ for the both of them, to keep the patriarch of their family happy. Glancing at the clock in the upper right hand corner of display, he noted with excitement that there was less than a minute left until _SAO_ launched. He waited with baited breath, and the instant the clock read '13:00' he activated the login sequence.

"Link…Start!"

A blur of colors flashed before his eyes, followed by several circles. Quickly running through the calibration sequence, Kazuto logged into his beta account, Kirito. 'Landing' in the main square of the starting town, the Town of Beginnings, he grinned and clenched a fist as he looked around.

"I'm finally back in this world!" he cheered softly to himself.

_**SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC**_

Running down the crowded street, Kirito dodged around the roadside markets selling swords, daggers, spears…anything you can imagine, as well as avoiding running over passersby or customers. Ignoring the chatter of merchants hawking their wares, people inviting each other to groups, or discussing the game, he turned into a side street and headed for the west gate. A shout pulled him up short, and he half turned to see a red-headed guy running after him. The man halted and put his hands on his knees, breathing heavily for a moment, and then stood upright.

"You move like you've been here before. You were in the beta test, right?" the guy asked, and Kirito blinked at him. What did that have to do with anything?

"Y-yeah?" he replied, confused, and the guy got a look that could only be described as begging on his face.

"This is my first day! Please, show me the basics?" he asked, and Kirito blinked at him again, feeling a little awkward.

"U-uh…" he stuttered, and the guy clapped his hands together in what looked like a cross between praying and more begging.

"I'm begging you!" the guy pleaded, before smirking and pointing at himself with a thumb. "My name is Klein! Pleased to meet you!"

"I'm Kirito." Kirito replied with a smile. The guy was a little weird, but seemed nice enough. "C'mon, a friend of mine from the beta is waiting for me in the West field. Best place for a level 1 to start."

"Yes sir!" Klein saluted with a grin, and the pair headed off again.

_**SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC**_

"Uwahhh!" Klein cried out as he went flying backwards to land on his back in the grassy plains of the West Field, his dagger landing abandoned beside him as he curled up around the one target that no man can fully resist a hit to.

His crotch.

"Oh, give me a break!" Kirito snorted, shaking his head with a small grin as Klein continued to roll around on the ground. "You don't actually feel any pain right?"

"Oh…oh yeah." Klein muttered, embarrassed as he got to his feet and scratched the back of his head. "Just a habit, I guess."

"Ne, get hit in the crotch often, Klein?" a young woman's voice chortled from nearby, and the pair turned to see a brunette with green eyes wandering towards them, carrying a short spear in one hand with a shield on her other arm.

"Oh? Is this your friend, Kirito? She's cute!" Klein's eyes got small stars in them, and an instant later he was before the girl, her left hand somehow in both of his while he gave her what he thought was a handsome and roguish grin. "My name is Klein, pretty lady, what's your na…GWAHHH!"

For the second time in five minutes, Klein was writhing on the ground in (supposed) pain to his crotch, as the girl had driven her knee none-too-gently straight into his manly area. She stepped over him and walked up to Kirito before throwing her arms around him in a hug.

"I missed you, Kirito! It's been so long!" she cheered, and Kirito blushed while patting her head awkwardly.

"It's been a little less than a month, Ailyn." He pointed out, before looking at Klein, who had regained his feet. "Klein, this is Ailyn. She was in the beta test with me, and we partied together through most of it. I sent her a message as soon as I ran into you."

"Ah, nice to meet you, Ailyn." Klein said with a bow, and she nodded in reply before eyeing him.

"You need to work on your initial motion input, Klein." She said after a moment, and he sighed gustily.

"I know, that's what Kirito has been telling me, but the little bastard keeps moving around!" he grumbled in annoyance, and Ailyn giggled before picking up a large stone of the ground and bouncing it in her palm.

"If you do the motion input right, and activate a sword skill," she explained, holding the stone up next to her head as if she was going to throw it at the boar, and it began to glow red. She didn't throw it so much as it exploded from her hand and smashed into the boar's flank, spinning it around and enraging it. "The system will ensure that your technique hits it target."

"Motion input…motion input…" Klein muttered, readying his short sword with a skeptical look.

"How should we explain it…" Kirito mused as he attracted the angry boar's attention, easily dodging its charges as he talked. Catching the boar's tusks on his sword, he found the words he was looking for. "Add a slight pause, and when you feel the skill beginning to activate, let it explode!"

"Explode?" Klein muttered, before his face got the proverbial "light bulb" look and he settled into a combat stance, bringing his short sword up next to his head as it began to glow orange. Kirito smirked and shoved the boar of his blade, giving it a solid kick so it was pointed towards Klein. The boar charged, and Klein fired his technique with a yell, dashing forward. His blade sliced straight through the boar, and it's health bar dropped to zero before it shattered into a cloud of multicolored particles.

"YEAH!" Klein shouted in victory, throwing his fists into the air. Dropping into an impromptu victory dance, he continued to congratulate himself in a display that would have been embarrassing if it wasn't so entertaining.

"Congratulations." Kirito said, interrupting his celebration, and both he and Ailyn high-fived the rookie.

"You do realize that those boars are about as strong as slimes are in most other games though, right?" Ailyn asked with a smirk, and the way Klein's face fell was beyond comical.

"Seriously?" he groaned. "I thought that was like, a mid-level boss or something."

This proved to be too much for Ailyn who proceeded to start laughing long and hard, leaning against Kirito to keep from falling over, while Kirito himself gave a couple of soft snickers before schooling his features again.

"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up!" Klein grumbled, although his lips twitched slightly in response.

"Of course it wasn't, Klein! Look around!" Ailyn finally managed to say through her giggles, gesturing around the field. Klein looked and saw several more of the boars wandering around or re-spawning. Grumbling, he practiced using his sword skills again.

"Pretty exciting, isn't it?" Kirito asked, smiling at the enjoyment on the rookie player's face.

"Yeah!" Klein agreed with a grin, twirling his blade around and making a few practice cuts. "Hey, there are lots of skills, right? Like, blacksmithing and stuff?"

"Yeah, from what I heard, there are an unlimited amount of skills. Since the game is so life-like, you can literally create new classes and skills. Take Ailyn for instance. She invented using a shield and spear together during the beta, and figured out how to be a tank with that armament. Now, thanks to her, there is the Lancer class." Kirito answered, gesturing to his companion.

"That's pretty impressive. I never would have thought of that kind of combination." Klein mused, looking at Ailyn with respect in his eyes.

"However, there is no magic in this game. None of any kind. If you need healing, you had best have a potion on you." Kirito added, drawing Klein's attention again.

"An RPG without magic?" Klein mused, powering up another sword skill. "That's a pretty bold, and risky, decision to make!"

"Maybe." Ailyn agreed with a shrug as Klein unleashed his skill in a blur of red energy. "But isn't it much more fun to move your body while you fight, as opposed to just standing there?"

"You're right!" Klein agreed, nodding slowly.

"Hmm. Well, let's move on to the next group now." Kirito smiled, and Klein nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah, let's keep going!"

_**SAO: TBT SAO: TBT SAO: TBT SAO: TBT SAO: TBT SAO: TBT SAO: TBT SAO: TBT SAO: TBT SAO: TBT SAO: TBT**_

Some three and a half hours later, a tired but still energetic and happy Klein was sitting cross legged, with Ailyn and Kirito stood together just a few feet away, watching the sun set over the horizon.

"It's amazing. No matter how many times I remind myself, I keep forgetting that I'm actually in a video game." Klein said aloud, shaking his head appreciatively. "Whoever made this is a genius, for sure. I'm really glad I was born in this time!"

"You get so excited over the littlest things…" Aiyln sighed, shaking her head in amusement at their companions perpetually child-like and energetic attitude.

"Hey! This is my first full-dive, you know!" Klein protested, sounding slightly petulant, and Kirito looked at him in surprise.

"Then…this is your first time using Nervegear?" he asked, and Klein nodded.

"Yeah, I rushed out and bought all the gear and stuff just for SAO. I was really lucky to get one of the ten thousand copies. Of course, you two are ten times as lucky, since you got into the beta test. Only a thousand got accepted." He replied, and Kirito rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.

"Yeah, I guess so." He muttered, feeling a little embarrassed. He should be used to naturally exuberant people (he did grow up with Suguha, after all) but he still felt awkward sometimes.

"How far did you to get in the beta?" Klein asked, curious, and the two glanced at each other before shrugging.

"In the two month beta, we only made it to Floor 10, but this time it will take less than one." Ailyn answered for the both of them, and Klein's eyebrows rose. From what he read on the forums, most beta testers had only gotten to Floor Five or Six.

"That's pretty impressive. You two are really into this." He said, and Kirito nodded while drawing his sword, relishing the realness of the grip in his hands.

"To be really honest with you, during the beta test SAO was all I thought about, day or night. In this world, one blade will take you wherever you want to go. It's a virtual world, but I feel more alive and more at home here then I do in reality." He replied quietly, rotating the blade so it caught the light of the setting sun.

"I felt the same way, that's why we went so far in the beta." Ailyn agreed quietly, watching Kirito with a smile on her face. When she had first met him, the boy had been impersonal and a stalwart solo player. She had managed to get him to open up slowly, and they had become friends, although he was still rather off-putting to most people. Not that she could tell him yet, but she was really starting to like Kirito, which is why she had been thrilled when he had asked her if she wanted to meet up after the game's release and play together again. Shaking her head to free herself of her thoughts, she smiled and rapped her shield with her fist. "Well, shall we go hunting some more?"

"Of course!" Klein agreed, clenching a fist, before his voice dropped into a somewhat depressed tone. "I'd love to but," there was the sound of a stomach rumbling fairly loudly, and Klein sighed while wrapping his arms around his stomach. "I'm really hungry so…I'm going to eat."

"You know that eating food down here only makes you think you're not hungry, right?" Kirito pointed out dryly, but Klein grinned and pointed a finger at him.

"I already ordered a hot pizza! It will be getting delivered to my house around 5:30!" he declared, and Kirito laughed slightly.

"Well, I see you're so prepared." He commented, and Klein posted his hands on his knees and nodded.

"Yup! Once I've eaten, I'll be back!" he said, and Kirito frowned slightly.

"I see…" his voice trailed off, and Klein noticed.

"Hey, I'm going to be meeting friends from another game when I get back. Do you two want to friend them to, and join us?" he asked, prompting Kirito and Ailyn to exchange glances and shuffle a little awkwardly. Klein noticed, and hastened to continue. "Hey, if you don't want to, that's fine! I can introduce you another time!"

"Yeah, sorry." Kirito said quietly, looking down. "Thanks."

"Yes, thank you." Ailyn said, just as quietly as she watched Kirito. She could tell he felt bad about saying no, but hadn't wanted to meet too many new people at once. She sighed gustily. Looks like she had more work cut out for her, making him open up to more people.

"Hey, that's my line!" Klein grinned, walking up to them and putting a hand on each of their shoulders. "I owe you guys, and I'll repay you sometime. In the game, of course. Dead broke in the real world, after paying for all of this."

Kirito and Ailyn laughed along with him quietly, all three enjoying the easy camaraderie that seemed to have sprung up over the course of a few hours.

"If you need to know anything else, just ask me or Ailyn. Beta testers are here to help you newbies. After all, without us you might end up losing to a wild boar, or cutting your own foot off!" Kirito joked, and Klein mock pouted before grinning and laughing.

"I'll do that! See you guys around!" he agreed cheerfully, waving and turning away, swiping one hand through the air to bring up his menu. Ailyn and Kirito were turning to find another pack of mobs to fight when Klein's voice grabbed their attention. "What the…? There's no button too logout…"

"Yes there is, newbie. Look closer, at the bottom of the menu." Ailyn sighed, giving Kirito an amused look that said "Really?"Kirito just shrugged with a wry grin.

"No, the icon is there but there is no button to press." Klein said, sounding bewildered and concerned.

"Eh?" both Kirito and Ailyn walked closer to him and summoned their own menus, only to find out that he was right.

"Well, I'm shocked and chagrined…" Ailyn muttered, blushing lightly. Kirito nudged her with an elbow, and she smacked his arm loudly before they refocused their attention to the dilemma before that was, quite literally, before them.

"I don't understand though…is it a bug?" Kirito murmured, staring at his menu with a furrowed brow.

"Well, it is the first day, so there are bound to be a few bugs, right?" Klein said, a little annoyed. He had spent a lot of money on this game and the Nervegear. Getting a bug the first day was irritating even if it was expected, but since he had food coming soon... He grinned after a moment, his easy-going nature coming to the fore once more. "Heh, I bet that the server people are freaking out right now."

"Yep, and in a minute you will be too." Ailyn commented with a sly grin, pointing at the time display on her menu. "It's 5:25 right now."

Klein froze for a moment, his expression disbelieving, before his eyes widened in horror. Throwing his head back and grabbing his hair with both hands, he bellowed his pain to the sky.

"NOOOO! MY TERIYAKI MAYO PIZZA AND GINGER ALE!" Ailyn and Kirito both stared at him, before sighing simultaneously with a hint of amusement. Klein, it seemed, had a flair for the melodramatic.

"Hey, calm down and call your GM." Kirito sighed.

"I did, but no one is picking up. What's going on here?" Klein muttered, confused even further. "Hey, is there another way for you to log out? Like, a bypass or something?"

"Hmm, no. If a player wants to log themselves out, they must use the menu." Kirito replied, shaking his head, and Klein groaned.

"That's nuts. There has to be someway out." Klein declared, before making several wild gestures, one of which being jumping in the air with an upraised fist while yelling aloud. "Return! Log out! Escape!"

Provided that crickets existed in SAO, and happened to be in that field, they would no doubt have been the loudest sound there as Kirito and Ailyn both stared at Klein with expressions that clearly stated their concearn for his sanity, while Klein stood there, arm still upraised, and waited for something to happen.

Nothing did.

"There wasn't an emergency logout in the manual either." Ailyn murmured with a frown. Something wasn't right here. It could be a simple bug, but it felt far more ominous than that.

"You're kidding right?" Klein gaped at him, before holding up a finger as if he had a great idea. Reaching up to his head, he made lifting motions with his hands a few inches away from his skull. "I know! I can just rip the Nervegear off of my head!"

"Is he for real?" Ailyn murmured to Kirito, as Klein continued his actions, and the young man shrugged before returning his attention to Klein.

"Oi, don't waste the effort. We can't move our real bodies while Linked In. The Nervegear intercepts anything our brain does at the brain stem, remember? That's how you move in the game." He said, and Klein stopped his attempts with a frown.

"So, we have to wait for them to fix the bug?" he asked, and Kirito shrugged slightly.

"That, or someone in the real world has to unplug us from the Nervegear." He replied, and Klein grimaced.

"Ah, I live alone, so there goes that idea. How about you two?" he sighed.

"I live alone as well, but then I don't need to log off anytime soon." Ailyn said calmly.

"I live with some relatives. Both my parents are dead, so it's just me, and aunt, and a cousin. They will probably notice by dinner time." He replied, and Klein got the same look on his face that he had when he first saw Ailyn. Dashing forward, he grabbed Kirito by the shoulders and shook him slightly.

"Oh? How old is your sister?" he asked excitedly, and Kirito stared at him before his eyebrow started to twitch slightly.

"She's on a sports team, and she doesn't really like gaming." He replied, but Klein didn't seem put off in the least.

"That doesn't matt…KYAAAAA!" Klein started to say, before releasing a girlish scream as Kirito's knee rammed into his crotch. Flying backwards, he bounced on the grass and immediately clutched it, tears in his eyes, before blinking and nodding. "That's right, it doesn't hurt…"

"Doesn't this seem really, really strange to you guys?" Ailyn said suddenly, and the two boys looked at her.

"Well, yeah, but it's just a bug, right?" Klein replied in confusion, and Ailyn frowned.

"It can't be just a bug. If we can't log out, it could pose a very serious problem for this games future. If there really was a bug, all they would do is shut down the servers to force-quit all the players."

"You're right, now that I think about it…" Klein muttered, looking around the area.

"Yeah, and there hasn't been a GM announcement or anything, either." Kirito agreed with a nod.

Somewhere in the distance, the sound of a massive bell ringing was suddenly audible, echoing across the entire floor. All three turned to look at its origin, the Town of Beginnings, and were suddenly wreathed in a white aura. Moments later, they found themselves in the main courtyard of the town, standing before the massive clocktower, in which the bell still rang. All around them, other players were appearing in white flashes of light, and started chattering with one another.

"Hey, what's going on?"

"I don't know…"

"A forced teleport?" Kirito muttered, looking around. The bell stopped ringing, and Ailyn gasped aloud.

"Look, up there!" She pointed to the sky, were a blinking red WARNING notice hovered. Moments later, it began to multiple, until the entire sky was blotted out by a massive red dome WARNINGs and System Announcements. Through the cracks at the apex of the dome flowed what looked rather like blood. Pooling in midair, it began to form a definable shape until at last an enormous, red robed figure hung above the crowd. Immediately, the crowd began murmuring again.

"What is that?"

"Is it a Game Master?"

"Why doesn't he have a face?"

"Is this some sort of event?"

"I'm scared…"

"Ah, don't worry, it's just a part of the opening ceremony I bet."

"Greetings, Players." The figure spoke at last, raising his arms. "Welcome to my world."

"My…world?" Ailyn muttered, a sick sensation starting to gather in the pit of her stomach.

"My name is Kayaba Akihiko, and as of right now I am the sole person to have control of this world. I'm sure you've all noticed by now that you are unable to logout. This is not a defect, nor a bug. This is an intentional feature of _Sword Art Online_."

"WHAT?" Kirito yelled, as around him other players did the same. "What the hell is going on here?"

"A-a feature?" Klein gasped lowly, eyes widened in shock, and Ailyn gritted her teeth.

"You cannot log out of the game, and no one in the real world can shut down or remove the Nervegear. Should this be attempted, the Nervegear transmitter will release focused microwaves, destroying your brain and thus ending your existence."

"What the hell? Enough already!"

"Come on, let's go." One player said to the female player at his side, pulling her towards the edge of the courtyard, only to run headlong into an invisible wall. "I can't get out!"

"What is he talking about? He has to be nuts, right guys?" Klein asked, turning to his companions, only for Ailyn to shake her head.

"No, he's right. The transmitter's signals work just like microwaves. If the safety were ever disabled, it could easily fry a brain." She replied, and Klein gaped at her in disbelief.

"Then…maybe if we cut the power?" Klein said slowly, but Kirito shook his head.

"No, Nervegear has a built in battery." He said, and Klein shivered, shaking his head violently.

"Unfortunately, several players' friends and families have ignored the warning sent out via the news agencies, and have attempted to remove the Nervegear. As a result, 213 players are gone forever, from both Aincrad and the real world." Kayaba continued, and a ripple of murmurs ran through the crowd."

"Two Hundred and Thirteen?" Kirito breathed, while Ailyn moved closer to him instinctively, one hand reaching out to clutch his sleeve.

"I..I don't believe it…" Klein muttered, shock written all over his face.

"As you can see," as Kayaba spoke, several windows showing various news reports flickered into life around him. "Many news agencies are reporting all of this, including the deaths themselves. Be reassured that the danger of the Nervegear being removed from you is now minimal. I do hope that you will relax and attempt to clear the game. Please, remember all of this clearly: There is no longer any revival method in this game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be deleted, as will your mind as the Nervegear fries it."

The crowd stared up at him in disbelief. Sure, being stuck in the game until it was cleared, on pain of death, was bad enough, but dying for real if you got killed in battle? This was insane! Some sort of pipe dream, or maybe he would suddenly laugh and say that it was all a joke, and to enjoy the first event of the game!

"There is only one way to be free. Clearing the game." The now-revealed psychopath continued, uncaring of the crimes he had committed and would continue to commit. He brought up a map of the entirety of Aincrad, and pointed to it. "As you now, you are on the lowest floor of Aincrad. If you make your way through the dungeon and to the Floor Boss, defeating it, you will be able to advance to the next floor. Defeat the Final Boss on Floor 100, clear the game, and all the players will be freed."

"Clear?"

"What is he saying?"

"You…you're making that up!"

"Clear all 100 floors?" Klein glared at the red-robed menace. "That's impossible! The beta testers never got anywhere close to that level!"

"Finally, I added an item to your inventories. Think of it as…a welcoming present from me. Please, see for yourselves."

"'Mirror?'" Ailyn said slowly, looking at it in confusion before selecting it. At once, a small square hand mirror flashed into being before her, and fell into her hands. Looking into it, she saw her face for just a moment before the mirror flared white, blinding her and bathing her in light. Moments later, the light faded, and she looked at herself. Her Avatar form was gone, and her actual appearance was in its place. Long, scarlet-gold hair hung in luxurious waves down her back, mid-length bangs partially hiding bright amethyst eyes. Her skin was a dusky brown **(Think Yoruichi from Bleach. That skin tone.) **and her armor was tight against her C-cup breasts, giving some of the men (and women) around her a slight nosebleed.

"Ailyn?" Kirito's voice came from nearby, and she turned before her eyes widened and she blushed faintly. Kirito's short, spiky black hair framed what could be described as a feminine face, his black eyes looking at her in wide-eyed amazement as a not-so-faint blush stained his cheeks. "Wow, you…you look good."

"Thanks…you too." She replied, her blush darkening further at his praise and his continued stare.

"Man, what is this?" A red-head with short, red spiked hair, a bandanna, and a rugged appearance said as he came over to them, rubbing the back of his head. "What happened, Kirito? Eh? Who are you guys, and where did Kirito and Ailyn go?"

"Eh? I'm Kirito and she's Ailyn, but who…KLEIN?" Kirito gaped at the red-head, who blinked at the pair of them before fixating on Ailyn again. Glaring at him, Ailyn fingered her spear, and was satisfied when he gulped and turned away slightly, moving his hands to shield his manhood from harm.

"Yeah, it's me. So I guess that the Mirror revealed our real appearances, but how did the game know all the details?" Klein asked again, and Kirito narrowed his eyes in thought.

"When we were setting up the Nervegear, remember how we had to put in all of our data, and scan ourselves with the Nervegear? I bet this is why." He replied, and his two companions nodded in agreement and understanding. It made sense after all.

"But why? Why is he doing all of this to us?" Klein asked plaintively, and Kirito pointed at the still floating form of Kayaba Akihiko.

"I'm sure that he is going to tell us." Was the simply reply. As if on cue, the red-robed menace began to speak again.

"I'm sure that many of you are thinking: 'Why would Kayaba Akihiko, creator of SAO and Nervegear, do all of this? Well, my goal has already been achieved! I created Sword Art Online for one reason, and one reason only: To rule of this world!"

"Damn him…!" Ailyn growled, fists clenched at her sides as she glared hatefully up at the madman.

"And now, it is complete!" he declared, gazing down at them all. "This concludes the tutorial for the official Sword Art Online launch! Good luck…players!"

With those final words, the figure dissolved into the blood-like substance, which vanished. Moments later, the dome of system alerts vanished, the sky returning to its previous appearance of normalcy. That normalcy was nothing more than a façade, however, as 9, 787 horrified players stared uncomprehendingly at the space that had previously been occupied by one Kayaba Akihiko.

"This…this is real." Kirito murmured to himself, just loud enough for his two companions to hear him. "The genius who created Nervegear, and created a completely virtual space, Kayaba Akihiko. I used to admire him so much, so I can tell that everything he just said is true. If we die in this game…then we will die in real life!"

Suddenly, the silence broe as several girls screamed in fear, while the men started yelling angrily at the empty, uncaring sky.

"Screw you! Let us out of here!"

"I can't stay here, I have a meeting after this!"

"What the hell are you thinking?"

"Let us go! Tell us that it's all a lie!"

Kirito gritted his teeth as he looked around at the yelling crowd. This was bad, and it was only going to get worse.

"Klein, Ailyn. Follow me, quickly!" he hissed to his two friends, trying to keep his voice down, before heading for the edge of the courtyard. Some fifteen minutes later, the trio was near one of the gates out of town, and Kirito turned to them. "Listen to me. I'm heading to the next village right now. Come with me. If what he said is true, the only way to stay alive now is to become as powerful as you can."

"He's right. The resources in MMORPGs are limited, and can take a lot of time to respawn. In other words, the amount of money, exp, and items we can get is limited, and will be hard to get enough off once everyone back in the courtyard snaps out of it and starts flooding the area. If we want to stay ahead of the game, we need to move to the next city now, where we will have the run of the place." Ailyn agreed softly, looking at the two males. "I'll be at your side, Kirito. Someone has to keep you out of trouble."

"Ailyn and I know all of the dangerous areas, and the areas that are the most profitable. Even at level one or two we can get there with relative easy." Kirito continued, and then both looked at Klein, waiting for his thoughts.

"I…I spent a long time in line, waiting in line to buy this, so that I could play this game with my friends. They're out there, in the plaza. I can't abandon them!" he said with concearn.

_Damn, if it was just Klein, it would be hard enough, but with me and Ailyn we could smash through, but any more than this…we can't make it!_ Kirito thought to himself, his mind racing as he tried to figure out a way for it to work.

"Sorry. I can't ask you for anything else, can I? I used to run a guild in our old game, so I can't pull them together and stay alive until we meet again. I'll show them what you showed me. Just please send us updates when you can about good places to hunt." He said with a smile, and Ailyn and Kirito returned it sadly.

"Alright. Then let's say goodbye here. If anything happens, send me a message." Kirito ordered.

"Will do!" Klein replied with a grin.

"Alright…goodbye, Klein…" Ailyn said softly, as the pair turned away.

"Kirito, Ailyn!" Klein said suddenly, and they stopped. "You guys were actually pretty cute. That's my type."

"Heh, and that unkempt face of your suits you ten times better!" Ailyn replied with a smirk, looking over her shoulder, before the two raced out off the gate and down the path, leaving Klein staring after them with worry in his eyes.

_Please, don't die…_ he thought, turning back towards the courtyard and brining up his Private Message box, and keying up his friends' names. It was time to get started.

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Ailyn and Kirito raced down the dirt path as fast as they could. Kirito was deep in his thoughts, thinking about his younger cousin, and his aunt. He was sure they would find out what had happened soon, if they hadn't already. He knew Suguha would be crying hard. She loved him so much, was always trying to help him and spend time with him. His aunt would be putting on a strong front and comforting her, hiding away her own pain for Suguha' sake.

_I will not die! I am going to come out of this alive, and I am going to help as many people live as I can!_ He told himself, determined.

Ailyn's thoughts were similar. Though she lived alone, she knew her parents and friends would be terrified for her safety. Well, she wasn't going to die, and she would make sure Kirito lived as well.

Ahead of them, a pair of wolves spawned into existence and charged towards the running humans, who drew their weapons in response. Kirito cut one in half while Ailyn smashed the other with her shield before impaling it with her lance. Re-sheathing their weapons, the pair continued down the path, having never broken stride, both placing their hope and trust for survival in each other.

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And that is the first chapter. The name of the story will be explained at a later date, but we aren't far enough in to it for you to understand. Feel free to guess though! Please, remember to review, and PM me if you are interested in being the beta for this story!


	2. Illfang's Fall

**I am putting up a poll on my profile for the guild names I mentioned before, and a few new ones. Please, go and vote! Whichever one wins will be the name of Kirito's guild!**

**Also, please follow me on Twitter or join my Facebook group. The links to both are on my home page! Joining them means that you will know what is going on with various stories, so please do so!**

**Also, been thinking about doing a FFX and FFXIII crossover, with Lightning, Serah, Fang, and Vanille going to Spira at the beheast of Etro….what do you think? Should I do it? Should it be Tidus/multi, or remove Tidus altogether and have it be Yuna/fem-multi? Tell me what you think!**

**Also, I need a beta for this story! PM me if you want to volunteer, and have a good knowledge of SAO!**

**FINALLY, READ THE BOTTOM AN, I HAVE AN IMPORTANT QUESTION THERE!**

REVIEW REPLIES!

N0mster: We already had a nice little PM chat, so I won't put it all up here, lol.

Heliosion: Thank you, and I hope it will be as well

THE Dark Dragen: I thank you for your review, and hope you don't get deleted, again, because I actually read the Dark Lord Vulcan story sometimes.

Deusand: Well, here is the MOAR MOAR MOAR! You asked for, lol. If you ever come up with something more solid than "questionable" for Ailyn, let me know, lol. Remember, Kirito will be a little OOC in this story, much of which thanks to Ailyn's influence.

Kiyomaro-kun: AH! So good to see you on another of my stories, my friend! All of your suggestions were already either in or under consideration. I need to figure out how to keep Yuuki Konno alive before she can be in -_-…lol

Dany le fou: Well, to be honest, I totally ship KiritoXAsuna as the main ship. It's just too perfect. However, so many girls have a thing for Kirito, I just had to do it. Plus, I can have so much fun with the plot if Kirito has a loyal group of comrades who are also his lovers… kinda like Claymore. It is clearly RakiXClare, but going the Harem Route just makes it so much more fun! I personally like that the other characters aren't really developed, because then I can develop them my way, although a few (Sinon, Suguha, and such) have more backround in the light novels and the manga.

Dude: Thanks for your compliment, but as for the guild name (while that does sound kind of epic, ot be honest) I wanted to do something that reflects on the life in SAO. For instance, _Aegis _means a strong protection (i.e. a strong protection of fellow players). _Shattered Chains _and _Freedom's Call _are, I think, rather obvious in their meaning, lol. Finally, Hand of Sorrow. While it may sound like a PK guild, it is actually a reference to the song of the same name by Within Temptation. Go look up the lyrics, and you might see what I mean! The other options are based off of song names.

Arashigan16: All my stories have OC's, or at least most of them, because it spices things up. I do, however, take the time to ensure that the OC's are as well crafted as possible. I thank you for your faith in me!

God of all: thank you, I am continuing it right now, and enjoy!

Xbamsod: heh heh heh heh! It won't change much right of the bat, but it will change a great deal soon enough!

ToumaFF: Like I said to xbamsod, it won't change a lot right away, but it will have several large AU bits along with the bare minimum of the canon story line.

Crow667: You honor me with your words. The fact that you have such a high opinion of my work is very nice to hear!

**NOTE! AU ELEMENTS PRESENT IN THIS CHAPTER! NO LIKE, NO READ!**

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Sword Art Online: Shattered Chains

Chapter Two

Illfang's Fall

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Kirito and Ailyn, now both level twelve, sat on the stone benches of the small amphitheater in the small town of Misha, a little over two dozen other players arrayed around them. It had been a month since the revelation of the true nature of Sword Art Online, and more than two thousand lives had already been lost out of the initial ten thousand. Yet, despite the efforts of dozens of players and parties, the first floor boss room had yet to be discovered. Now, however, there was finally going to be a meeting, and a plan would be made.

"Okay, let's get started, everybody!" a bluenette in basic armor with a sword on his hip and a small shield on his back was saying from where he stood before them all. "Thank you all for coming today! My name is Diabel, and I like to consider my "job" as Knight!" He rapped his knuckles on his breastplate with a broad grin as he finished speaking.

The attempt to ease the tension succeeded, for the most part, as the entire watching crowd laughed aloud, several speaking up.

"There is no Job System in this game!"

"A Knight?"

"You should take this seriously!"

"So, then is this meeting a joke too?"

Diabel simply held up is arms for silence before becoming very serious indeed, his eyes hardening slightly as he looked around at them all.

"Today, my party and I found the boss room at the top of the tower."

His words received a reaction appropriate to their weight, every player-Kirito and Ailyn included- lean forward unconsciously.

"Eh? Seriously?"

"It's about time!"

"I thought no one would ever find it!"

"We need to defeat this boss so that we can all advance to the second floor, and show everyone waiting back there in the Town of Beginnings that it is possible for us to beat this game, and to be free! All of use, here, share this duty! Are you with me?!" Diabel continued, his voice growing louder and stronger as he spoke, clenching his right hand into a fist in front of himself, looking around at them all with fire in his eyes, although there was a hint of desperation there, too.

A desperation that all of them knew all too well.

It began with one player, and slowly spread until the entire group was applauding and cheering the blue-haired 'Knight's' words. Several players even whistled loudly, and Diabel smiled around at them with relief and joy in his expression.

"All right! Let's begin planning this out then! First, everyone divide into parties of six!" Even as Diabel continued speaking, the players did as he said and began forming groups. "An ordinary party stand no chance against the boss, We need a full up raid group for this!"

Kirito and Ailyn looked around, wondering if there were any partial groups. There weren't, and they were prepared to declare themselves as a small, back-up unit, when Ailyn caught sight of a cloaked young women sitting by herself further down the row, the long hilt of a rapier jutting out from above her left hip..

"Kirito, let's get that girl into our group. It will increase our survivability, and maybe we could invite her once we form a guild, if she is good enough." Ailyn whispered into her friend's ear, who looked over at the cloaked girl appraisingly. _And maybe you can gain another friend, someone else you can trust in this hellhole. God knows, we all need as many friends as we can get now. _**(A/N: Remember to vote for the name on my profile!)**

"I don't know about this whole guild idea, Ailyn…" he murmured back, and Ailyn shook her head.

"I told you, I won't let you be a recluse anymore. Get used to the idea." She said with a grin, tugging him out of his seat and over to the girl. Sitting down next to her, she smiled warmly at the girl. "Hey, my name is Ailyn. My friend and I were wondering if you had gotten left out?"

"No, I didn't. Everyone seemed to know each other already, so I figured that I would just stay out of the way." The girl replied, her voice soft and sweet, and Ailyn's smile grew.

"Ah, a solo player. My friend and I duo, but why don't you join our group?" she asked, and the girl looked at her in surprise from beneath her cloak's hood. Ailyn noticed and continued. "Diabel said we can't beat this thing solo. Being in a group will increase your odds of survival, because we can cover you if you need to heal."

The girl seemed to think about it for a moment, before nodding slowly in agreement. Kirito quickly opened up his menu and sent her an invite, which was promptly accepted. Immediately, the Party section of the HUD expanded as another health bar appeared, and both Ailyn and Kirito looked at the name beside it.

"Asuna, huh…it is a pleasure to meet you, Asuna. We looked forward to fighting by your side." Ailyn bowed her head slightly in greeting, a gesture that Asuna returned.

"Okay, have you formed your parties?" Diabel asked, seeing that the chatter had died down and that most of the players were looking at him again. At the various sounds of agreement, he smiled and nodded. "Alright! Now then…"

"Just a second!" a loud and obnoxious voice yelled, interrupting him. Everyone turned to see middle-aged fellow with spiky light-brown hair standing at the top of the amphitheater steps. He jumped down from bench row to bench row until he skidded to a halt next to Diabel, who was looking at him with a surprised and confused expression. "My name's Kibaou. I wanna say something before we take on the boss!"

Diabel blinked at the man, but good-naturedly gestured for him to go ahead and say what he wanted to say. Turning to the crowd, Kibaou posted his hands on his hips with an angry expression.

"Some of you here need to apologize to the two thousand players who have died so far!" he yelled, pointing a finger in condemnation at the group as a whole, who murmured in surprise.

"Kibaou, are you talking about the beta testers?" Diabel asked carefully, and Kibaou nodded choppily.

"Of course I am! On the day this stupid game started, the beta guys ditched us beginners, and then they all just disappeared! Taking all the good hunting spots, and easy quests for themselves, so that they could get stronger faster than us! Then, they just ignored us!"

His face took on a dark scowl, and Ailyn shivered slightly as he raked the stands with his eyes, carefully examining each player with malicious eyes.

"I'm sure someone here was in the beta! They should get on their knees and apologize, and then give us all the items and gold that they have! Otherwise, how can we trust them as party members?"

The crowd murmured their discontent, several players staring at the loudmouth in disbelief. Was he a complete moron? Demanding that players hand over their hard-earned items and money?

"May I speak?" an older male voice, slow, strong, and deep came from the crowd as a large bald black man got to his feet. At least six feet tall and broad-shouldered, his physique perfectly matched the large battle-axe that was slung over his back. He calmly walked up in front of Kibaou, who was forced to bend his head back as the other man towered over him. "My name is Agil. Kibaou, tell me if I hear you correctly. You're saying that, because the beta testers were not watching over them for every moment, it is the fault of those beta testers that everyone who has died, died? That the beta testers should take responsibility, apologize, and compensate those still alive?"

"Y-yeah, that's right!" Kibaou said loudly, clearly feeling off-balanced that someone was not immediately agreeing with him.

"Hn." Agil grunted as he reached into his pocket, pulling out a small brown book. "You got this guide book, right? It's free at any item shop."

"O-of course I did!" Kibaou replied, not entirely sure where the large man was going. "Why?"

"The entire book was written by a beta tester, using information freely given by other beta testers." Agil said calmly, and the watching crowd shifted, surprised. Many had not known that, and it certainly did not paint beta testers in an ill light if they were creating such a helpful item. Kibaou gritted his teeth angrily, seeing that he was losing what support his idea might have had from the crowd. Agil turned his back to the brown-haired man, and faced the crowd. "Listen to me. Everyone has and had equal access to this information. Yet, many, many players have died. I had thought that what we were here to talk about was how to learn from their deaths, and how we can defeat the boss. To get one step closer to freedom. Do not lay the blame on the beta testers. Lay the blame upon those who did not heed the warnings of those who knew how to live."

Agil turned his gaze back to Kibaou for a long moment, his expression daring the troublemaker to disagree. He didn't take, the dare, instead scoffing in annoyance and going to sit down in the front row. Agil nodded slightly to Diabel and returned to his own seat.

"Al right, then! Let's resume!" Diabel said after a moment of silence, pulling his own copy of the guide bok out of his pocket. He held it up slightly, making sure everyone could see it. "This is the newest edition of the Guide Book, and it contains strategic information on the boss."

The crowed murmured their surprise and their pleasure. Advanced information and warnings when going into a boss fight, or any fight of any kind, is a very good thing indeed.

"Now, according to this, the boss is called 'Illfang the Kobold Lord'. He has several minion-type monsters protecting him, called 'Ruin Kobold Knights'. He is equipped with an axe and a buckler. He has four health bars, and when the last one enters the red zone, he will switch to a large sword-type weapon called a Talwar. He will also change his attack and defense pattern, so we will have to be prepared to change our own quickly. The best idea will to surround him at that point, and attack from all sides. That should give us an advantage."

"Wow…"

"This guide book thing is amazing!"

"Yeah, I need to read mine more, I guess."

"Same here."

"That concludes the briefing." Diabel flipped the guide book shut and put it away. "Now, item distribution will be handled by the system. Of course, the majority of the experience that comes from defeating the boos will go to the party of whoever lands the last blow, but don't do anything stupid to make sure you get the last hit! This game is truly deadly now, and no amount of EXP or items is good enough to die for. Any objections or questions?"

The amphitheatre was silent for a long moment, and Diabel nodded firmly.

"Alright then, we leave for the boss room at ten in the morning. Get some sleep, double check your gear! See you all there!"

The crowd broke up, several going down to talk to Diabel, while others headed out to train, item farm, or check out the marketplaces. All of them wanted to be as prepared as humanly possible. After all, they all wanted to stay alive.

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The clearing party, gather together once more (for the most part) in the small central square talked and relaxed together, getting to know one another. Several players watched and cheered as Diabel and Kibaou engaged in a drinking contest, despite that the inability to get drunk.

Out of sight, on the wall of a stone planter that was in the shadows of a road leading off of the square, sat Asuna, a bread roll in her hands. Biting into it, she was forced to jerk her head back sharply in a tearing motion to get any of it into her mouth, and then had to chew hard before she was able to swallow it.

"It's pretty tasty, isn't it?" a voice asked quietly, and Asuna turned to see the black-haired young man whose group she had joined for the raid standing there, smiling slightly. "Do you mind if I join you?"

"If you want." Asuna replied softly, stealing a glance as he sat down. Some might have described his looks as feminine, but to her they seemed equal parts strong and gentle and she blushed lightly, glad for the darkness of the street and her hood so that he couldn't see it. She shifted further away from him hastily, wondering why she felt so shy and so embarrassed, but the boy seemed to take no notice nor offense. He merely reached into a pocket and pulled out his own bread roll, prompting Asuna to look towards him slightly. "Do you really think that this tastes good?"

"Of course, I've eaten at least one a day since arriving in this town. Although, I try to switch it up sometimes." He replied, and Asuna cocked her head to the side in confusion.

"Switch it up?" she echoed curiously, and Kirito smiled that small smiel again as he pulled out a small brown jar and placed it as close to her as he could.

"Put some on the bread, and you'll see what I mean." He said, and Asuna hesitantly reached out and tapped the top of the jar. Her fingers gained a white glow about them, and she slowly ran them over her bread. Immediately, a spread of cream appeared on the roll, and she blinked in surprise.

"Cream?" she said slowly, the word both a question and a statement at the same time. Looking over at the raven-haired swordsmen, she saw him taking a large bite out of his own cream-covered roll. Looking back at her won, she lifted it slowly up to her mouth, hesitated, and took a tentative bite. Her eyes immediately brightened in pleasure. It actually tasted good! Really good! She quickly demolished the rest of the roll and let out a happy sigh.

"It's the reward for a quest called "The Heifer Strikes Back", about one town back. If you want to complete it, I can show you the trick?" Kirito offered, and she was strongly tempted to accept the offer, so much so that shaking her head was almost impossible.

"No, thank you. I didn't come to this town to eat good food." She said softly, and Kirito eyed her calmly.

"Why did you then?" were his next words.

"So that I can still be me. I would rather be myself and fight until the very end rather than sit and rot away in fear at an inn, back in the first town. Even if I get killed by a monster, I don't want to lose to this so-called game, to this world. No matter what, I want to be myself." Asuna told him softly, but with a hint of steel in her tone.

"Well, you won't die with us, so don't worry." Ailyn said as she walked up, smiling brightly at the pair of them, though she was somewhat irritated with the large amount of space that they had put between each other. "Just stick with us and focus on the fight. Don't let thoughts or doubts cloud your judgment. Feel, don't think."

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The next morning, the raid group was following Diabel through a forest area to the base of the tower, each determined to do their part and to stay alive. While Diabel, Kibaou, and their squad was in the front, Asuna, Ailyn, and Kirito had opted to stay towards the back during the long march.

"Let's go over this one more time. We leftovers are supposed to deal with the boss's sidekicks, the Ruin Kobold Sentinels." Kirito was saying to the pair of them.

"I know." Asuna said softly, while Ailyn simply nodded in agreement.

"Ailyn will take their first hit on her shield, then I will sue a sword skill on their pole axes to knock them aside. Then, you switch in and finish them off." He continued, and Asuna looked at him in confusion.

"Switch?" she asked, and both her companions stopped in their tracks, forcing her to do the same.

"Is this the first time you've been in a party, Asuna?" Ailyn asked, and sighed when the other girl nodded slowly. "Troublesome. Listen, switching means that you move to the front of the party and perform a move. It's not really a complicated thing, or an actual function of the game, it's just your party member's way of telling you to make your move. It helps with the teamwork."

"I see…tell me what else I need to know about fighting in a party while we walk…" Asuna asked softly, and the pair nodded while Ailyn smiled a faint smile. This girl was smart, learning what she could. Hopefully, she would stay alive.

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"Alright, everyone! This is it, the boss room! Remember, stay with your squads, pop healing potions as much as you need to, and protect each other. Stay alive!" Diabel said from where he stood before the large stone double doors that led into the boss room. "Let's go!"

Turning around, he pushed lightly on the massive stone panels, activating the doors and causing them to swing open. His squad carefully paced in behind him, shields and weapons ready. The darkness of the room was menacing in and of itself, and that only grew worse than a pair of demonic red eyes opened at the far end. At the same time, the room became filled with light that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere. The light revealed Illfang the Kobold Lord sitting on a large throne at the end of the room, his axe leaning against the arm of the throne. Growling, he grabbed the axe and jumped from the dais, landing on the floor a few dozen yards away from the raid group. He let out a menacing roar as his four health bars appeared on the group's HUDs, and pixilated light particles appeared and coalesced into a trio of Ruin Knight Sentinels. Each one was wearing full plate armor and carrying a large, two-handed mace in their hands. After a moment, the trio of Sentinels lead the charge with the boss just behind them.

"Commence the attack!" Diabel yelled, thrusting his sword at the oncoming monsters, and the raid group counter-charged with a roar, weapons already beginning to glow as the players prepared their skills.

The two sides slammed into each other in a collision of steel and sound as the battle of the first boss began in earnest.

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Steel clashed against steel as the raid group engaged the boss party. At least a dozen players surrounded the boss while the others battled its minions, which appeared to be endless. Every time one fell, another rose in its place, ensuring that boss couldn't be swarmed by the players all together.

"Squad A! Squad C! Switch out and heal!" Diabel ordered from his place towards the rear of the battle. Illfang roared and hefted its axe high into the air, catching Diabel's eye. "Here he comes! Squad B intercept and block! Squad C, keep guarding and prepare to switch in! Attack from the sides…now! Squad D, E, and F, keep holding those Sentinels off our backs!"

"Roger that!" Kirito yelled back as Ailyn intercepted yet another Ruin Knight Sentinels mace strike. Darting around her, he swiped his glowing blade upwards, knocking its mace aside. "Switch, Asuna! Take it down."

"Right!" was the girl's reply, as she darted around both and charged with incredible speed as her rapier began to shine bright green. "Strike, third technique!" She unleashed her Blade Barrage on her off-balance prey, shattering it into a cloud of pixels.

_She's so damn fast. Even my eyes can barely follow her blade. I guess she isn't the rookie we thought she was._ Kirito thought to himself as they waited for their next target to spawn.

_She's incredible for someone who wasn't a beta tester. She would be perfect for the guild, once I get Kirito to start it. _Ailyn thought to herself with a small smile, as another Ruin Knight Sentinel spawned. All of a sudden, the Ruin Knight Sentinels stopped as Illfang roared loudly and snapped his fangs at the raid group. Kirito quickly looked over and saw that his final health bar had hit the red, which meant he would be changing weapons and tactics now. It growled again and threw its axe and buckler aside.

"Looks like the information was correct…" Kibaou said with a grin, holding his sword ready. The fight was almost over now, and no one had fallen yet. They were almost through this.

"Stand back, I will go!" Diabel yelled suddenly, running past the group towards the boss.

_We were supposed to surround it and attack it together as a group. What the hell is he doing? _Kirito thought to himself, looking at the blue-haired man. As if sensing his gaze, Diabel turned his head slightly so that he was looking half at Kirito and smirked. A moment later, he was standing before the boss, his sword shining with a gold-yellow light.

The boss grabbed the hilt of the large weapon slung across it's back and drew it, holding it straight out from its side. Kirito gasped at the sight and cursed.

_No! That isn't a Talwar! That's a Nodachi! It's different from the beta test! He's gonna get killed!_

"No! GET BACK! Jump back as fast as you can!" he yelled towards the bluenette, catching Kibaou's attention even as Diabel ignored him and charged the boss with a yell. Before Diabel got within a few feet of the boss, Illfang leapt upwards, bouncing from pillar to pillar, before ricocheting off of the ceiling and smashing into the ground before Diabel, its sword glowing purple and biting deep into the swordsmen's chest. As he went flying back, the boss Charged and cut him again, sending his body flying across the room.

"DIABEL!" Kibaou screamed, but before he-or anyone else- could help Illfang landed in the midst of the group and roared, his teeth mere inches from Kibaou's face.

"Diabel! Asuna, Ailyn, cover us!" Kirito yelled, running over to the fallen warrior and kneeling next to him while the two girls put their backs to him, protecting his rear. Pulling out a health potion, he tried to hand it to Diabel. "Why did you try to go in alone?"

"You were…a beta tester, weren't you?" Diabel said haltingly, his breathing and speech clearly labored as he pushed the potion away. "You know what I was doing, then."

"You were after the last strike rare bonus item." He said slowly in understanding, wondering why the warrior wasn't taking the potion. "You were a beta tester to?"

"Please…" Diabel gasped with a slight nod, clearly on his last legs, looking over at the battling players, who were fighting hard against the boss. "Defeat…defeat the boss…for everyone…"

With that, Diabel shattered into pixels in his arms, leaving Kirito and several other players who saw watching in horror as the pixels slowly faded into nothingness. It was then that Kirito truly realized just how terrible this world really was. Sure, he had seen the "Memorial Stone" that showed all the players who had died, including how and when, but he had never seen anyone actually die before, in this world or the real one, and he was just now coming to understand as the veil of innocence was well and truly banished. _Diabel…you were a beta tester, but you never abandoned the beginners. You led everyone, and fought brilliantly! You tried to do what I couldn't-or wouldn't- do! I will not let you die in vain!_

Kirito rose to his feet and turned towards the boss, eyes hard and face set in determination. Ailyn noticed and was quickly by her friend's side.

"We're going in." Kirito said calmly, and Ailyn nodded in acceptance. A moment later, Asuna was on Kirito's other side, rapier ready.

"Not without me. I'm going with you as well." She said, ironclad resolve in her soft voice.

"Alright. Ailyn, take point. Asuna, you and I will protect her flanks. Use the same tactics that we used on the minions. Ready?" Kirito said in an authoritative voice, and both girls responded together.

"Yes."

Kirito waited for a brief instant until the path to the boss was clear, and then all three raced forwards together, as if an invisible signal had been sent. The boss' first slash was intercepted by Ailyn, who stepped back as Kirito spun around and past her with the grace of a dancer, sword shining a brilliant sapphire as he smashed the boss' own gleaming white blade aside, leaving him open to Asuna' barrage of rapid sword strikes. The boss' eyes gleamed suddenly, and Kirito's eyes widened in fear.

"Asuna! Step back, and to the left!" he yelled, and Asuna immediately obeyed his commands, narrowly avoiding being cleaved in two by the hammering sword strike from Illfang. Her cloak, however, was shredded, revealing Asuna to be a beautiful auburn-haired, topaz-eyed young woman a little older than Kirito. Her eyes locked onto the boss, her lips drawing back in a faint snarl of defiance and anger as her sword blazed a bright pink as she unleashed Linear Strike, sending the boss flying sideways. Kirito watched in awe of both her skills and her beauty for a long moment before the roar and thundering footsteps of a charging Illfang regained his attention.

"He's coming back!" he yelled, twirling his sword slightly in preparation to attack.

"It looks like we have his attention! Let's Blitz him, hard and fast! Kirito!" Ailyn shouted, and Kirito nodded tightly. The Blitz was a collaboration move he and Ailyn had created, intended for Ailyn to rock a target back on its feet before Kirito dashed in with his speed and eviscerate it. It was designed for large groups of mobs (monsters) and, as luck would have it, bosses.

"Asuna! Hard and fast, don't let up! Your most powerful strikes!" he called, and Asuna nodded tightly as the two swordsmen took their places to the sides and just behind Ailyn. "Ailyn, go!"

"Right! Charging Lunge!" Ailyn cried out, putting her shield back and thrusting her lance forward. A moment later, she was streaking towards the boss with impressive speed. Her lance smashed into the boss, knocking it back a few steps. The instant its feet were still again, Ailyn was already on it. Onslaught!, Shield Barrage!, and last but not least, Lockdown Blow!."

Ailyn's lance seemed to blur, pummeling the boss repeatedly, preventing it from retaliating, before she smashed it three times with her shield, before finishing off with an enhanced strike to one of its legs. The system immediately accepted the debilitating attack and slowed the boss' movement speed by 15%, making it something akin to a sitting duck to people as fast as Kirito and Asuna. She immediately leapt back, leaving Kirito and Asuna an open approach on the boss.

"My turn! Vorpal Strike!, Flashing Penetrator!, Reaver!, and Backstab!." Kirito darted in, sword flashing in the light of the boss room as he unleashed his own fury upon the boss, first with a single, well-placed and high speed attack, followed by a series of rapid, shallower cuts. Landing, he unleashed a vicious, leaping uppercut that carried him above the boss. Landing on its back, he plunged his sword into its thick skin before leaping off, spinning in midair to land facing the boss. Again, the system recorded the debilitating strike, and lowered the boss' attack and speed by 15%.

"Alright! Flashing Penetrator!, Linear Strike!, and Blade Barrage!." Asuna cried out, sending her own hurricane of blows into the boss, sending it staggering as its health bar dropped rapidly.

The end result of the party's triple barrage of attacks was that the boss was down to 300 HP (Health Points), and stuck in the middle of the triangle that the trio had created, with themselves as the three points. The other players watched in muted awe at the three players who had, seemingly, smashed the boss with relative ease, leaving it close (relatively speaking) to death

_Damn them! The must be beta testers! Those bastards! I'm not going to let them take the glory, or the items! I'll finish this myself! _Kibaou growled to himself mentally, before charging the boss with a cry, his sword beginning to shine with energy as he prepared to unleash his most powerful attack.

"Stop, Kibaou! What are you doing?" he heard Agil yell from behind him, but the brunette ignored the dark skinned man and continued his charge.

Kirito's eyes narrowed as he looked at the charging Kibaou, and the boss. While he didn't care if Kibaou got the last hit bonus item or not, the boss was being too passive. It was just sitting there, so what in the world could it be…?

His question was answered as the boss suddenly shone with a red light, and seemed to grow before their eyes. Its body bulged as muscles became visibly larger. The debuffs that Kirito and Ailyn had laid on it vanished as it howled to the heavens.

_Shit! It berserked! This never happened in the beta! I never even knew that SAO _had_ a berserk function for bosses! _Kirito hissed angrily as the boss counter-charged Kibaou, his movement having attracted its wrath. The image of Diabel dying in his arms flashed through his mind, and he gritted his teeth angrily and shook his head. _I don't let anyone else die!_

Decision made, he poured on all of his speed and dashed in front of Kibaou, kicking the man away even as Illfang's glowing purple blade swept down on them. Kibaou yelled out in shock as he went flying away, while Kirito let out a scream of pain as the glowing Nodachi bit into him, cutting an enormous gash across his chest and sending him flying backwards into Asuna, knocking both to the ground.

_**SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC**_

Asuna groaned as she shook her head slightly with a wince, smarting slightly from the speed and force that Kirito had hit her with when they collided. Glancing down at him, her eyes flew open and she let out a soft gasp of fear.

Kirito was hanging onto life by a thread. He had a mere 25 health points remaining. If the boss so much as blew hot air at him, he would die instantly. For some reason, one that she didn't really have the time to think about, the idea of Kirito dying terrified her.

"Kirito! Come on, don't die! Drink this potion, qu…ickly…" Asuna said frantically, holding out a health potion, her voice stuttering off at the end as massive shadow loomed over the pair. She looked up fearfully, to see that it was Illfang, surrounded by the red aura that indicated Berserk mode, his massive sword starting to fall. Asuna, instead of dodging and saving herself, grabbed her rapier and held it overhead to block, in a likely futile attempt to save Kirito.

"RAGH!" a deep voice roared as a green streak of light flew over the pair, smashing their incoming death away. There stood Agil, battle-axe still shining green and outstretched behind and above his shoulder from the massive blow he had used to save their lives. The man turned to Asuna, glanced at Kirito, and grinned. "Heal him up, girl! We will hold it off until the kid is back on his feet and you three can finish it off!"

The boss leaped backwards, landing hard with one clawed hand digging furrows in the marble floor of the room, sword held out by its side, and roared angrily, clearly displeased with losing its prey. As Asuna put the health potion to Kirito's lips, Ailyn appeared next to them, and Agil's party charged with a roar, Agil storming after them, brandishing his axe and giving a loud war cry. The boss rumbled in fury as it was forced to hold its sword in front of its head and hunker down under the hail of blows smashing into its guard as Agil and his party gave it everything they had.

Alas, it was not enough to break the beast's guard. It stomped hard on the ground and spun its blade, the pressure throwing the attacking players back, and then it leapt into the air, sword glowing. Kirito gasped, recognizing the move that had resulted in Diabel's death. Except this time, and entire party-that had saved his life, and that of Asuna- would be the ones too die. Grabbing his sword, he lunged to his feet.

"WATCH OUT!" he roared, holding his sword over his back as it began to shine. Down the boss came, howling its triumph, and Kirito's eyes narrowed. "Not if I hit you first! Skyward Scythe!." He unleashed his skill, flashing into the heavens to intercept the boss in midair, landing a heavy blow to its midsection. The boss was knocked off course, and it plummeted to the ground, thankfully not landing on any players. Kirito hit the ground and rolled back onto his feet, charging towards the boss. "Asuna, Ailyn! One more Blitz is all we need. In position!"

"Roger that! On point!" Ailyn acknowledged, leveling her lance at the boss and charging once more, shield before her as she swept towards it like an unstoppable juggernaut.

"I have the left side!" Asuna cried as she fell into step beside Kirito.

The boss clambered to its feet, snarling in defiance as it faced the oncoming trio of players. Its sword came up, and began to shine as once again a sword skill was charged in preparation to unleash death. Ailyn smashed into the boss like a hammer, sending both of them reeling back, horribly of balance and vulnerable. Fortunately for Ailyn, and unfortunately for the boss, Ailyn had friends that the boss didn't. Kirito and Ailyn swept in, blades flashing as they unleashed a barrage of sword skills on the boss. The fight finally ended when Kirito cut its head in half length-wise with a vicious downswing, and Ailyn impaled it in the stomach at the same time. The boss gave a final howl of defiance before finally, _finally_, exploding into a shower of pixels, flying into the air before vanishing.

_**SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC**_

The boss room was silent for a long, long moment, as the players watched the cloud of pixels slowly disperse and vanish. Finally, it seemed to sink in to them.

"We-we did it!" one player shouted in mingled surprise and joyful excitement. His words proved to be a capable catalyst, as the entire raid group began to cheer loudly as a large 'CONGRATULATIONS!' System Notice appeared in white lettering over the entire group, small windows popping up before each that told them what they had gained from the battle. Most gained EXP and some money, but Kirito and Ailyn received a shock.

**HIDDEN ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED!**

**ACHIEVMENT: DOUBLE TAP! TWO PLAYERS LANDED EQUAL STRENGTH KILLING BLOWS ON THE BOSS AT THE SAME TIME! BOTH WILL RECEIVE A LAST HIT ITEM!**

Kirito's window went on to announce that he had received a Coat of Midnight, while Ailyn received a Sword-breaker's Bulwark.

"Hey, that was incredible, all three of you. It looked like you've worked together for a long time." Agil said, coming up to the trio, who turned to him. Asuna decided to answer.

"I never met them before yesterday, actually. Thank you for saving my life." She said softly, and Kirito nodded in agreement.

"And mine as well, and thank you for the potion, Asuna. I thought I was a goner for sure." He said, holding his hand out to the man, who shook it.

"It was the right thing to do. We're all in this together." The tall man replied with a smile. The other raid members cheered as the trio and Agil rejoined them, many congratulating them on their skills and for slaying the boss, although they were quick to say that everyone had done their part, and it had been Diabel's leadership that made the victory possible.

"WHY! WHY DID YOU LET DIABEL DIE?" Kibaou shouted suddenly with fury, glaring at them, making the entire rest of the raid group look between them in surprise. What was Kibaou talking about?

Kirito, Ailyn, and Agil's eyes narrowed angrily while Asuna looked at the brunette with suspicion. It looks like Kibaou was trying to start trouble again, but what, and why?

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**That's a wrap for this chapter, and the important question I have is this: should Agil, Asuna, Ailyn, and Kirito manage to convince the other players that the beta testers are, by and large, not to be feared and hated? OR should they accept the role of Beater like in canon? I'm leaning towards them humiliating the idiot and everyone walks away happy (except Kibaou), but what do you think! Tell me in a review or a PM, and don't forget to do the poll for the guild names!**

**See you Next Time!**

**Shadows of Vanity**


	3. Division and Unification

**So, thinking about changing the name of this story to Sword Art Online: Shattered Chains. Think I should? Would make more sense than "The Black Twins". I think I will, what do you guys think?**

Catz1112: Yeah, there wasn't much I could do in the very beginning to change things up that other people hadn't already done, to be honest. I plan on getting more AU from here on out, and I'm using my own rather extensive MMORPG experience to help with the writing of this story. (I play World of Warcraft, TERA, and Star Wars: The Old Republic :P Call me a nerd, I know, it's true.)

Transcendant Being Fan: Honestly, I didn't mind him either. I just needed someone not close to Kirito to die to really impress upon him and the other players how severe the game really is. As for beta testers, I hope you like what I did!

Blackbird0: Can he has both? I says he can... :)

Lavi Arcadia: I'm glad you enjoyed it, and it is definatly an anime worth getting into! As for Beaters, I agree with you compleatly, which is why I did what I did. Read on to find out just what that is!

DanaeMariSkywalker: Good, I'm glad. Some people don't like OCs, but I try to make them very likeable, and honestly in this particular anime, you need an OC or two unless you just want to re-write cannon. It's not really unbelievable either, since 10,000 people played SAO.

SilverFlameHaze: Like I told Catz, not much AU stuff I can do early on without looking like I'm copying someone else' idea. Furthermore, your name is awesome, that too is an amazing series! Wish it had a bigger archive... :P

Dany le fou: Good to see you again, Dany! I agree, it didn't make sense for every player to just go with it except Agil and Asuna, and I'm planning on having a great more diversity in opinion amongst the player base here. Agil is going to come out swinging in fact, as are a couple of others. Not to say Kibaou won't have his own supporters, but you can't win them all.

n0mster: I think we had a discussion via PMs, but just in case we didn't... The reason I had them yell out the sword skills, though it was kind of awkward, was because I felt like just writing: "He used this, that, and the other thing. The boss died." would be rather...lacking? I am going to try to go the Beater but Humiliate route, though it shan't be easy, because it is the most realistic. Yes, Ailyn is getting a lot of attention at the moment, something I am working on, but as of right now I'm trying to establish her character. As for the FFXIII x FFX story, essential the plan is for Etros to send Claire, Serah, Fang, and Vanielle to Spira at the behest of the Aeons (which I will have as Guardian Spirits of multiple realms, as most Aeons appear in several of the games, just in different forms.) The later three will, before departing, also swear to serve Etros like Claire, giving them all sortsa new powers and whatnot. I'm going with Tidus/harem too, BTW.

Fluffylover: Here is an update, lol. Also, I have them working in unison because they're used to working in sync from the beta. We see Kirito and Asuna working in sync alot during cannon. Also, fluff will be happening, but not quite yet. Ailyn is still trying to draw Kirito completely out of his shell, though he is getting there, and Asuna, though she feels _something_ for him, is unsure of just what it is. Remember, we know that Kirito and Asuna didn't develop quickly. They parted ways after Illfang and didn't see each other again until the strategy meeting for the boss some 30 or more floors later. Since they won't be splitting up, I'm going to develop their relationship before I start the romance.

Eigo: I agree, a mix is better, which is why I did it. It always seemed stupid that 90% of players automatically hated Kirito and Co. And no, I'm not, because it would turn people against the beta testers more because they would assume Kirito was trying to shove the blame off onto someone they respected to make himself look good. Plus, Kirito respects Diabel to much to tarnish his memory.

**By a rather impressive margin, the guild name will be Shattered Chains! The emblem I will be using is up on my page, under the section dedicated to this story!**

_**SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC**_

Sword Art Online: Shattered Chains

Chapter Three

Division and Unification

_**SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC**_

"Let him die? What are you talking about, Kibaou?" Kirito responded a trifle coldly. Although he was expressionless on the outside, inside his mind was flitting from thought to thought quickly. Kibaou had clearly not given up on his anti-Beta Tester agenda, which wasn't all that surprising, but what did he hope to gain from this? "I tried to give him a health potion, but he refused to drink it."

"Shut up! Just shut up! You're a damn beta tester aren't you? You knew that the boss had changed but you let him attack any way, let him die, just so you could be the one to beat the boss!" Kibaou screamed back, eyes filled with hatred. Every eye turned to Kirito, waiting for his response, and his eyes quickly traced over every face he could see, gauging the air in the room. He could lie about this, but if he was honest and up front about it, he might be able to improve the general view of beta testers.

"Yeah, I'm a beta tester, one of the best. I made it further than anyone else in the beta, which is why I knew as soon as the boss equipped his new weapon that things had changed." he replied, deliberately leaving out the fact that Ailyn was also a beta tester. If things went pear-shaped, he wanted to make sure that the proverbial crosshair was painted on his back alone.

"I knew it, damn cheating beta tester!" Kibaou roared triumphantly, leveling a condemning finger at him, and Kirito noticed that the players seemed to be leaning the brunette's way in this argument. He sighed internally. It seemed that raw invective and shouting still managed to win over calm reasoning. "You...you, _BEATER!_"

"You've seemed to forget, Kibaou, that Diabel broke formation and abandoned the plan in an attempt to get the final hit himself. That is when he died, and I along with many others heard Kirito shout for him to get back. He ignored Kirito, and that is why he died." Agil retorted, stepping forward to support the swordsman who had saved his life.

Many players began murmuring in agreement. The giant had brought up a damn good point. They had all heard Kirito shouting at Diabel, though some were unsure of exactly what was said, and it had been Diabel who had tried to attack alone. Support, by and large, seemed to be shifting back towards him, but he did see several players firmly on Kibaou's side, if their facial expressions were any indication.

"And, after all, didn't Kirito save your life when the boss _Enraged_, and nearly died in doing so? I'm pretty sure that's what happened. How much health did he have left after saving Kibaou, Asuna?" Ailyn now joined in, coming to her friend's defense.

"25 health points." the young woman replied, eyes cold as she glared at Kibaou, angry with him for doing this after Kirito almost died for his worthless hide. Many of the player gasped or murmured in surprise at the low number. They all knew that even a glancing blow from the boss with that little health would have meant death, and Kirito watched as many players more firmly joined his side of the argument. After all, if Beta Testers were what Kibaou was portraying them as, he wouldn't have come a few moments away from death to save someone else, especially someone who had already spoken out against beta testers publicly.

"Remember this as well." Kirito said finally, stepping forward and letting his eyes trace over them all. "Beta testers are stuck here, same as the rest of you. We all have family and friends waiting for us. We all have something to live for, and we all want the same damn thing: to clear the one hundredth floor. To win our freedom of this world and to kill Kayaba Akihiko. That is all that should matter to us, because we won't be able to clear one hundred floors if we are divided amongst ourselves over petty differences."

"You damn Beater!" a player that supported Kibaou stepped forward, and both Asuna and Ailyn shuddered as he leered at them with thinly veiled cruelty and perversion in his eyes. "You fucking beta testers should die like the bastards that you are, and watch your back. Someone might _help you along_. Don't worry about your lovely friends here though. I'll take _real_ good care of them. I'm sure we'll become _great_ friends."

The implications were clear, and Kirito's mouth twisted into a snarl of disgust and loathing as his hand went for the sword now sheathed on his back, while the two girls flinched away and Agil rumbled in displeasure, his own large hand settling on the haft of his battle-axe. Before the two males could _reeducate_ the bastard, Ailyn and Asuna stopped them with hands on their shoulders and some hurriedly whispered words. Kirito and Ailyn, in fact, had a short conversation, before Kirito released his hilt and eyed the crowd of players with eyes of chipped onyx. Many a player shuddered slightly as those eyes swept over them.

"Ailyn just reminded me of this, and I thought I would clue in all of you newbies. In each major city of each floor, there are NPC magistrates. If you bring them substantial, ironclad evidence of a crime being performed, they will give you a warrant for players. That warrant can range from arrest...to execution on sight. So spread the word to every player you meet that crimes will be discovered and punished with whatever force is deemed necessary. If I hear of any rapes or anything of the sort happening..." his eyes grew, if possible, even colder and harder, and the players swore that they saw the Shinigami himself standing behind the swordsman. "I will lead the party to hunt you down and kill you myself."

With those final words of warning, Kirito turned and headed towards the boss' throne, and the large door behind it, Ailyn and Asuna hurriedly joining him.

"Where are you going, Kirito?" Agil asked aloud, and Kirito looked back at the large man.

"To open the next floor, and see if it's the same as the beta. I'll send Argo the updated safe path to the first quest hub and town by tomorrow morning." the teen replied calmly, and Agil nodded before jogging over. Kirito blinked at the older man, who grinned at him and unslung his battle-axe, hefting it onto his shoulder.

"What, you think I'm going to let a bunch of kids like you take all the risks finding the safe route without someone older and wiser along to keep you out of trouble?" Agil asked, and Kirito raised an eyebrow at him with a faint smirk playing across his lips.

"When you find someone older and wiser, let me know. I would love to meet him." he replied, starting off again, followed by a giggling Asuna and Ailyn. Agil glowered after him for a moment, before shrugging and chuckling deeply as he caught up. Soon enough, the other players that supported Kirito or were neutral about the whole affair headed after them, until the boss room was inhabited only by Kibaou and his own supporters.

"C'mon, this is a good opportunity. We need to head back to the first floor and make sure a story that shows beta testers for what they really are is released to the other players below before those bastards can feed them lies." he ordered, heading for the door that would take himself and his followers back to the first floor proper. After the last anti-beta tester was gone, a feminine figure shrouded in a dark brown hooded cloak flitted out of the shadows. Brown eyes danced with mirth and cheeks with matching trios of red whisker marks stretched in a sly smile.

"Naughty Kibaou, spreading nasty lies~!" the young woman known to all as Argo the Rat, premiere information broker of SAO, said in a sing-song voice. One slim hand dipped into her cloak and came back out with a teleportation stone. "I can't let you tell nasty lies about Kiri-bou~! Teleport: Town of Beginnings!"

The famous-or infamous, depending on whom you asked- player vanished in a flash of blue-tinged white light. When Kibaou and his supporters finally managed to get back to the Town of Beginnings, they found themselves fighting a losing battle to convince more than a handful of people that Argo's story was a lie. After all, her little newspaper article had screenshots, while Kibaou didn't. And you know what they say in MMOs.

Screenshots, or it didn't happen!

_**SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC**_

"Ah! The second floor is just as beautiful as it was in the beta, ne Kirito?" Ailyn said happily, twirling in a small circle as the other players took in the massive rolling plains that was the majority of the second floor. A clear blue sky stretched overhead, and large herds of various neutral-beast type mobs roamed over the hills, while being watched with dedicated attention by aggressive beast-types for one to fall behind and become their next meal and flocks of flying-types wheeled over the grass.

"Hrm. I wonder if this is how Lewis and Clark felt when they first saw they Great Plains back home." Agil mused aloud to himself, making several players look at him in surprise. They hadn't met many foreigners playing SAO. In fact, most hadn't met any.

"Are you an American, Agil?" Asuna asked curiously, having met several when they came to do business with her father, and finding them a by and large likeable group of people, although there were those few that made her want to introduce them to gravity.

Preferably from the 33rd story of her father's business headquarters.

"Yeah, I was born in the USA, but my parents brought me here for vacation once, and we all fell in love Japan, sold our home back in Minnesota, and moved to Okachimachi. Been living there ever since." the African-American man replied a nod and a wistful smile as he thought of his family's small farm in the USA, and his coffee shop-and his precious flower, Sakura- here in Japan. Shaking himself from his thoughts, he smiled at Kirito. "Well, Kirito, what's the plan?"

"The first quest hub is about a ten minutes walk from here down the road. It's a small guard outpost of NPCs from the first city, who are being attacked by the surviving minions of Illfang. We help them out and they will give us a recommendation to the Mayor of the town and a good bit of Col. Little known fact, you need the recommendation to do the majority of quests for this floor." Kirito replied, and Ailyn nodded beside him.

"Now, the mobs are going to be Ruin Kobold Sentinels, so fight them the same way you would have fought the one's during the boss fight. We need to kill about 50 of them each, but since we're in parties, we will get credit for our party members' kills. Stick together and don't screw around. Remember, more things may have changed since the beta." she continued, looking around at them all seriously, receiving nods and words of understanding and acknowledgment. With another nod, she looked at Kirito, who nodded to the group as a whole.

"Alright, move out. Try not to stray into the zones of those aggressive beast-types. They're as strong as the Sentinels, and much faster, plus they work as a pack." he ordered before turning and heading off down the path, the raid ambling along after him.

_**SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC**_

"Are you our reinforcements?" the NPC outpost captain shouted to Kirito, as he cut down yet another kobold.

"In a manner of speaking! We just killed Illfang, leader of the Kobolds attacking right now!" Kirito said, following the UI's conversation prompts to receive the next quest. "I can only assume that these little bastards are running away and right into you!"

"As long as you're here I don't really care why! I need you and your people to push them back until my men finish with the charges that will close the little rat hole these things are swarming out of!" the captain grunted as he blocked a mace swing with his shield and ran his attacker through the chest.

"We'll handle it!" Kirito replied, ending the conversation and getting the quest, which he quickly passed onto the other raid members. "Alright, spilt up into your parties and hold the line! Timer is starting, we have to hold out for ten minutes to finish the quest! Squad A, I want you..."

_**SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC SAO: SC**_

Meanwhile, in the real world, we find one Suguha Kirigaya, second cousin to our intrepid hero, sitting in a hospital room chair, next to the aforementioned hero's catatonic body, tears in her eyes as she looked down at him, and one hand came up to stroke his cheek lovingly. As always happened when she visited her cousin, her mind drifted back to when this nightmare began...

_FLASHBACK_

_ "Good match, Sugu-chan!" her best friend (besides Kazuto-kun, of course), Uzume, cheered, patting her on the shoulder as she sat down, pulling off her helmed and brushed sweat-soaked hair off of her face._

_ "Thanks, Uzume-chan." Suguha smiled at her chestnut-haired friend and leaned back with a deep sigh. She had just won a match against a third-year starter of the kendo team, something she couldn't wait to tell Kazuto-kun about, but the match had left her exhausted and sore. She knew her cousin would be proud of her. He was a kendo prodigy, best in his age group and able to fight on even ground with those years older than himself, but then one day he had up and quit without a word of explanation._

_Suguha knew why, though. Kazuto-kun had found out that they were only distantly related, not brother and sister as they had always thought. Suguha had been overjoyed at the news, as she now could pursue her feelings for him without fear of what the world would think, but Kazuto had taken it in with far less happiness. He had become colder and more withdrawn from everyone, including his friends from school, and it had broken her heart that Kazuto-kun didn't feel comfortable around them anymore. For ages, all he had done was play games and do his schoolwork. Only in the last few months had he really started to open up to her again._

_ "So, ummm," Uzume started hesitantly, and Suguha turned to look at her, one eyebrow raising in curioustiy that was quickly sated as she saw what her friend was doing._

_Blushing, looking shy and embarrassed, while looking at her hands and fiddling with the hem of her shirt._

_ "Yes, I'm spending some time with Kazuto-kun today, and no you can't come over this time. He's going to help me with my homework, and then I'm going to watch a movie with him." Suguha said with a sigh, well aware that several of her friends had crushes on her Kazuto-kun. "You can come over Friday, though, if you like."_

_Uzume looked momentarily crushed, but brightened up at the prospect of hanging out with Suguha-chan and Kazuto-kun in a mere two days. _

_Before she could reply to the offer, the door to the dojo slammed open violently, and Suguha's classmate and long time friend Nagata Shinichi burst in, eyes a little wild as they flew over the rooms occupants. Landing on Sugu, he dashed over to her and leaned over, bracing his hands on his knees, sweaty and breathing hard._

_"Suguha-chan!" he coughed, and Suguha glared at him, reaching for her shinai. She knew Nagata had a crush on her, but she had told him time and time again to address her by her last name. Before she could beat him into the mats, however, he started speaking again. "Suguha-chan, you have to get home! It's a disaster, it's terrible!"_

_"What are you talking about, boy?" Suguha's sensei demanded coming over to them. Suguha felt a tightening in her chest, a dark feeling of foreboding washing over her._

_"A terrorist attack!" Nagata shouted loudly, grabbing Suguha by her shoulders. "Everyone who played Sword Art Online has been trapped in the game! Over three hundred people have died so far because people tried to get their NerveGear off!"_

_"Sword...Art...Kazuto-kun!" Suguha mumbled to herself in shock. That was the name of the game her cousin had been talking about recently! He was supposed to be...playing...right now!_

_She was on her feet, shoes back on, and out the door before anyone could move a muscle or say a single word. She ran faster than she had ever run before, praying that she would get home to find that Kazuto had never logged into the game. Her feet hurt from being improperly put on without socks, the freshly started rain and win pummeled and soaked her, but none of it mattered._

_Nothing mattered more than getting home to her Kazuto-kun._

_Several minutes later, she arrived at her house to see one of her worst nightmares. Her beloved cousin being wheeled out of their front door on a full-sized ALS (Advanced Life Support) gurney towards a waiting ambulance. An ambulance under the watchful eye of a squad of JDF Marines (Japanese Defensive Forces). They were, however, insignificant to her right now, as was the yellow police tape that she ran straight through as she dashed towards the gurney._

_"Hold it, girl!" one of the Marines said in accented Japanese as he grabbed her around the middle. "This is a crime scene, I'm going to have to ask you to leave now."_

_Suguha, normally one to obey the authorities in her life, decided that her cousin was more important and swiftly applied the S.I.N.G concept that her sensei had taught her to free herself from male attackers. Four strikes, four targets. Stomach, Instep, Nose, Groin. Caught unawares, not having expected her to target...such areas, the Marine released her with a stifled yelp of pain, and she used the opportunity to get another five yards closer to her cousin before being promptly apprehended again, this time by a pair of Marines. Not willing to suffer the same pain and embarrassment as their comrade, they held her arms behind her back. No matter how hard she struggled, there was no way she was getting free of that._

_"Kazuto-kun! Wake up!" she screamed, tears blurring her vision and dripping down her face, where they mixed with the rain. Her cousin didn't move, didn't respond, didn't even seem...alive. "Kazuto-kun, please wake up! You HAVE to wake up! You promised me, Kazuto-kun! WAKE UP!"_

_FLASHBACK ENDS_

"Suguha-chan, you should probably be heading home. I can't let you stay anymore and its getting dark already." one of the nurses dedicated to Kirito and the other SAO victims at the regional hospital said gently. Like many of the other doctors and nurses on the SAO Special Medical Division, she had begun to lose her patient/doctor emotional detachment with the families and friends of the victims. How could you stand to be cold and impressionable, a detached doctor in essence, when you see a 5 year old child crying because her daddy won't wake up? When you watch a girl crying as her fiancée's body is wheeled away to the morgue because he fell in the game?

Of course, even more so had they become attached to young Suguha Kirigaya. When all the other victims families eventually stopped coming to visit, she alone continued to visit. Bringing fresh flowers, talking to him, reading to him. Many of them would bend the rules until they were nigh on unrecognizable for her, and some would drive her home at night so that she could stay longer.

"Ah! Yes, of course, I'm so sorry Ayame-san." Sugu started, looking at the clock and realizing how late it was. Getting to her feet, she gathered her things and bowed low to Ayame. "Thank you very much, Ayame-san. I'll see you tomorrow after kendo practice."

"Alright, be careful heading home." Ayame smiled as the girl rushed away, heading for the parking lot and her bicycle. She took one last look at the unconscious face or Kazuto Kirigaya and turned off the light with a sad sigh. So many lives ruined, and for what?

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Later that night, in the darkness of his inn room, Kirito sat on the window sill and stared out across the dimly lit town, his mind going over everything that had happened. Diabel dying, the growing division in the player base between those that supported Beta Testers and those that wanted them gone. He glanced over at the other bed in the room to see Ailyn and Asuna facing each other, a peaceful expression on their faces, hands lightly touching. He smiled softly and returned his gaze to the stars before slipping out the window and heading off into the darkness. He wouldn't let anything hurt them, and to do that he needed to be stronger.

_Just you wait, Sugu. I'll beat this thing, and I'll keep my promise to you._

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That's a wrap for this chapter! If you see any spelling errors or whatever, let me know, as I have no beta at the moment!


	4. Shattered Chains

**Hey all, latest chapter for Sword Art Online: Shattered Chains! Now that I've graduated from high school *squeals happily like a little girl* Ahem, sorry...anyway, now that I've graduated, I will have more time for writing, I hope, so updates will happen more often. However, I update as the muse works with me. To long I've tried to force it just to put chapters out there, and every time the chapters is total crap that makes me cry just looking at it. So, I will update when I have something worth doing so with. **

**Now, review replies!**

Zefias Ravenwing: I'm glad you like it! I can neither confirm nor deny who will be in harem, but I can tell you that I was pissed when Sachi died...

DanaeMariSkywalker: I'm glad you're still enjoying it! The way I see it, if people had actually spoken up, so much would have been different about the anime after the first boss. Didn't make sense for so many people to stand there with their thumbs in their asses and say nothing.

n0mster: yeah, I wanted to be harsher on Kibaou, but we need him later for the whole deal with Thinker and Yulier. After that, he's expendable ;)

Lavi Arcadia: yeah, it was abrupt. I wasn't sure how to make it smoother since it was the first tiem we se the "outside world", and I tried hard to make it an emotional scene XD

Gaz: Ailyn is mysterious for a reason. That reason will be revealed later on, but suffice to say it may blow minds.

Reaper7: Yeah, SAO has such harem potential, just like Accel World, Claymore, and a half dozen other anime/manga.

**People, please remember to follow me on Twitter and Facebook. The links to my pages are on there! Updates can be acquired in those two places, as well as an easier way to get in touch with me.**

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Shattered Chains

Chapter Four

Shattered Chains

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"Asuna, switch!" Ailyn shouted, blocking a powerful attack from the boss, and the rapier-wielder called out her acknowledgment as she dashed forwards, her blade lashing out blindingly to lay a dozen powerful strikes of her own.

"Support teams, hold the line! The boss is entering its final phase now!" Kirito shouted to the rest of the raid group as he cut down an add that was trying to blindside Asuna. The sound of a howl from behind him made him spin, to see a Empowered Werewolf mob ready to strike him down. Before it could attack, however, there was the sound of shattering as it exploded into pixels, revealing a smirking Argo, her twin claws gleaming in the moonlight.

"Careful, Kiri-bou~!" she chastised him playfully. "If you died, then where would we be?"

"Thanks, Argo. Let's end this!" he grinned back, gripping his sword's hilt tighter. The assassin-class/informant nodded with a smile before vanishing, only to reappear, cutting down another add as Kirito raised his voice in warning to the raid. "Phase Change now!"

With perfect timing, Were-King Lycaon, the floor boss for the Fifth Floor, howled to the sky. High above the forest clearing that served as the boss room, the full moon was turning blood red, a change mirrored by the boss' eyes. The creature seemed to bulge at the seams, growing larger and blood red letters spelled out the words **Were-King Lycaon, Blood Moon Form **in midair.

The boss' head dropped back down from its howl, crimson eyes gleaming maliciously, and Kirito shouted his next orders as a symbol appeared over the boss, before the boss vanished from sight.

"Form Square! **FORM SQUARE!**" he roared, and the DPS players scampered into the center of the clearing, the tanks hurriedly surrounding them in a bastardized version of a Roman legion's hollow square defensive phalanx.

The Were-King's final phase was a dangerous one, the scout groups had discovered. The First Phase, New Moon, was easy. The boss had stats as low as those of the hordes of Weakened Werewolf mobs that he would summon. The second phase, Full Moon, had the boss much stronger, moving faster and hitting harder, with fewer but more powerful Empowered Werewolf mobs. This final phase, however, was truly dangerous. His power and speed was nearly tripled, and all of his abilities had passive Lifesteal, in that successful hits would heal him a portion of the damage done. The Bloodcrazed Werewolfs that he summoned were even faster, and the general consensus had been that he was unbeatable. Until, that is, Kirito and his people took a crack at it. He, Ailyn, Asuna, Argo, and Agil, along with Klein and his friends, had gone in and fought the boss almost until its defeat, being forced to retreat when the number of adds became too much for them to handle. However, the intel they brought back was irreplaceable: the boss self-destructs. During the fight, Argo (being the cute little spy/information broker that she was) noticed the skull and crossbones of an old RPG favorite hanging over the boss' head. Doom. If they could survive the onslaught for three minutes, the boss would die.

Far easier said than done.

"Stay together!" Kirito ordered, eyes flicking about from his place behind Ailyn. "DPS, remember to work together to cut down your adds as fast as possible, before they drain the tanks to much!"

Noises of affirmation and the sound of people, weapons, and armor shifting was his response, and he smiled grimly as he prepared to defend Ailyn. There was dead silence for a long moment, and then a cascade of blood-curdling howls shook the air as the mobs appeared at blinding speeds, unleashing a hurricane of blows at the tanks before being cut down by the DPS.

"Two minutes, thirty seconds remaining! Hold together! Thirty seconds to tank switch!" Kirito barked, just before another wave attacked. Thirty seconds later, he barked again. "Two minutes! Tank Team One, step back! Tank Team Two, step forward!"

The players moved swiftly to follow his order, the first line of tanks stepping back and popping health pots while the second, uninjured line stepped forward to replace them just as another wave appeared. For a short while that seemed to take an eternity, the air was filled with nothing but grunts of pain, clashing steel, and blood-chilling howls.

"Alright, this is it! One minute left. Do not falter! If one of us goes down, we will all die! Protect each other, heal when you need to, and stay alive!" Kirito shouted as the adds dispersed and the boss himself began to attack the phalanx, landing a barrage of blows on a pair of targets before flitting away with impossible speeds to do the same to a separate pair.

"Kirito, we can't hold much longer!" Ailyn shouted, staggering back and falling to one knee as she clutched a red, pixilated gash across her stomach with one hand while tossing back a health pot with the other. "He's too strong, we should warp out and come back at a higher level!"

"No! We only need another thirty seconds! If we break formation to warp out, we will lose people! Just stay in formation!" Kirito shouted back, pulling a heavily wounded tank backwards just before the boss could finish him off. Biting back a scream of pain from the damage he sustained in doing so, Kirito downed a potion and checked the timer. "Fifteen seconds!"

"Kirito!" he heard Argo scream, and he spun to see her on the ground, trying vainly to crawl away from the boss, who had appeared from nowhere and struck down two tanks just as they were trying to switch out with another pair to heals. Dispersing pixels told Kirito of their fate, and he bit his lip hard enough that, in the real world, he would have drawn blood. Readying his sword, he charged the boss with a hoarse shout. Lycaon snarled in defiance, his hunt disrupted, and faced the challenger, rushing to meet him as a deadly dance began.

Twenty seconds...Kirito ducked and spun under a swiping claw, laying a heavy strike across the Were-King's abdomen, only for it to heal over again immediately after as a second strike clipped his shoulder, wounding him for nearly a fifth of his health and healing the boss over again.

Fifteen seconds...Kirito dropped to the ground to avoid another blow, before dashing between the beast's legs and stabbing it between the legs. As it howled in rage and turned to face him, he smirked a little and popped a potion. Step One, attract boss' attention and save Argo: CHECK! Step Two, survive pissed off werewolf-king being entirely focused on killing him: Working On It.

Ten Seconds...Kirito screamed in agony as he dodged the Were-King's razor-tipped hands, only for a clawed foot to lash out and catch him directly in the chest, sending him hurtling across the clearing and through several trees before he slammed into another and slid down it, barely alive and totally incapacitated from the pain.

Five Seconds...the boss rushed towards him, ignoring the desperate attempts of Kirito's comrades to distract it, before another group of adds swarmed them, preventing them from helping the swordsman.

Four Seconds...Lycaon phased into being before Kirito's slumped form, growling down at him with what sounded like satisfaction.

Three Seconds...red eyes gleamed sadistically as one clawed hand grasped the inert player and lifted him into the air, towards a mouth that gaped open, saliva dripping off of large, serrated fang-like teeth.

Two Seconds...a dazed Kirito stared defiantly at his death. If he was going to die, it would be with courage, not fear.

One second...just as the boss prepared to devour the young player, a large spear came whistling through the air and slammed into the boss' hand, forcing him to drop Kirito as he howled in rage and turned to face the thing that dared interrupt his hunt again. A young woman dressed in medium chainmail armor stood facing him defiantly, another spear in hand, grey eyes narrowed fearlessly beneath silver-grey bangs, a smirk firmly on her lips as the boss reared back to smite her. An instant later...

Zero Seconds...the boss shattered into thousands of pixels, along with the surviving Bloodcrazed Werewolf mobs. The girl's smirk grew before it turned into an expression of concern and fear as she raced to Kirito's unmoving body. Falling to her knees beside him, she pulled his head into her lap and began digging around in her pouches for a health potion. Her panic visibly grew as her hands came up empty, and Kirito's health continued to trickle ever lower for some reason. She watched in horror as the bar inched inexorably towards zero, only for hands to appear and force a health potion into his mouth, tipping back and depositing its contents into his system, bringing him back from the brink of death.

The girl looked up to see Ailyn, Asuna, and Argo kneeling near her, while the other clearing members milled about nearby, looking on in concern.

"Thank you very much for saving his life!" Ailyn cried in relief and joy, staring at the grey-eyed girl with tears in her eyes and a bright smile.

"Of course, I couldn't let him die." the girl replied, brushing his hair off of his face gently, looking down at him again with a slight blush and warmth in her eyes, something that didn't go unnoticed by the other girls. Any questions or comments they might have made, however, were promptly removed from their minds when Kirito stirred with a groan and opened his eyes. Blinking a little blearily, he looked up at the face above him and smiled.

"So, you saved me, Sinon. I'm glad you decided not to give up." he said softly, and the trio of girls all looked sharply between the two, wondering how they knew each other. Sitting up, Kirito shook his head as if to clear it and looked around before smiling. "I'm glad you girls are all alright. That was a pretty tough fight. We lose anyone other than those two tanks?"

"No, but Kirito, you almost died! Show a little concern for yourself!" Asuna scolded, and Kirito rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and smiled at her broadly.

"Eh, I'm still alive, so not to worry!" he said cheerfully before becoming solemn again. "I just wish we hadn't lost anyone..."

"You tried your hardest, Kirito. No one expects anything less. What you did was noble, brave, and very foolish." Agil boomed, coming over and pulling Kirito to his feet by the scruff of his neck before clapping him on the back hard, nearly sending him to the ground again. "Good work. Now, I believe you and your lady friend should have the honor of opening the sixth floor."

Kirito nodded, still smiling, and looked over at Sinon, who was looking nervously at Ailyn, Asuna and Argo. All three young women were staring at her hard, scrutinizing her, and it was kind of scary. It was like they were a pack of wolves and she was a small animal being surrounded until they decided to pounce.

"Hey now, no need to look nervous, Sinon. Opening a new floor is easy and safe! C'mon, let me show you how it's done." Kirito said reassuringly, totally missing the real reason behind her discomfort. Grabbing the spear-throwing girl's hand, he pulled her to her feet and set off towards the edge of the clearing, where a large archway formed out of tree branches stood tall, an impassable curtain of thorny vines stretched between them, blocking the way to Floor 6. Once they reached it, Kirito looked at Sinon again. "Now, since you got the last hit, you open the door. Just approach the vines and Interact with them. Follow the prompts to open the next floor."

"Okay..." Sinon said quietly, feeling shy. She was normally a rather calm and cool-minded person, but something about Kirito made her feel like a shy school-girl instead of a young woman fighting for her life every day. Doing as he instructed, she approached the door and Interacted with it.

**Floor Five Cleared!**

** Proceed to Floor Six?**

** YES/NO**

Reaching out tentatively, Sinon pressed YES. A flash of light nearly blinded her before the vines began to withdraw from before them, opening the path for the players.

"Well done, Sinon." Kirito said warmly, squeezing her hand before letting go and turning to the rest of the raid group, missing the slight frown of disappointment that crossed Sinon's face when he let her hand go. "All right everyone, unlike other floors, the first city on the sixth floor is right near the entrance, so feel free to go find friends and spread the news. Make sure to stay safe and watch each other's backs wherever you go!"

The raid group dispersed, chattering and laughing with each other as they either headed back towards the fifth floor's main city to spread the word, or forward towards the sixth floor. Asuna, Argo, and Ailyn approached the pair and clustered around Kirito, who looked around at the four girls with a smile.

"Kirito, you really need to stop almost getting killed every boss fight." Asuna frowned at said raven-haired teen, who blushed in embarrassment.

"Sorry, Asuna. I couldn't not do anything though. Argo would have died..." he replied sheepishly, and Argo smiled brightly before grabbing his right arm and holding it between her breasts, giving Kirito a slight nosebleed and bright red face. The other girls, including Sinon, leveled dark glares at the spy, who smirked and stuck her tongue out at them.

"My hero, Kiri-bou~!" she purred happily, and Kirito chuckled a little awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head while the girls fumed in annoyance. Pulling himself free, and missing her pout of disappointment, Kirito crossed his arms over his chest and looked through the dark void of the door, as if he could see the next floor in its depths, his face set in a thoughtful frown.

"C'mon, Floor Six awaits, girls." he said abruptly, uncrossing his arms and heading through the door. The girls exchanged glances of confusion before hurrying after him.

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The Sixth Floor, much like the second, opened onto rolling plains. It's dominating feature, however, was the massive, glittering expanse of water that stretched as far as the eye could see along said plains. Flocks of birds could be seen flying over the water, diving periodically for fish or to harass the NPC fisherman that worked their fishing boats for fish to sell in the main city's marketplace. On the plains, more powerful versions of the beast-type mobs, both passive and aggressive, were grazing, lounging, or hunting.

"Amazing..." Sinon and Asuna, the only non-beta testers of the group, breathed in awe at the beauty of it all.

"Welcome to the Sixth Floor. Most of this floor involves missions along the coast, such as dealing with pirates and the like, but a fair few involve hunting rogue beast-type mobs or what-have-you." Ailyn told the pair, shouldering her lance as she kept a careful eye on the aggressive mobs. Glancing at Kirito, she smirked broadly. "This is also where the Guild Registrar is, so Kirito here can form our guild. Right, Kirito?"

"Ailyn..." Kirito groaned, hoping she would drop it, but no such luck.

"Nuh uh, Kirito. You're a natural leader, and all of us are always together anyway. I think it is the next, logical step to form an actual guild, which has all kinds of benefits, not the least being the ability to get an actual headquarters to sleep in safely!" the crimson-haired beauty said firmly, shutting him down hard, before putting the final nail in the proverbial coffin by turning to the other girls. "You girls agree we should form a guild with Kirito as leader, don't you?"

"Yes, of course."

"Kiri-bou would makes a great leader~!"

"Yes."

"Then its settled!" Ailyn said triumphantly, turning back to Kirito with a broad grin as Asuna, Argo, and Sinon endorsed her plan. "All that is left to do is reach Selam, the capital for this floor, and think of a name. Off we go!"

With that, Ailyn grabbed Kirito by the arm and headed off down the road, half dragging the grumbling raven-haired swordsman behind her, whistling a jaunty toon all the while. The other three girls sweat-dropped at seeing their leader and love interest hauled off like a sack of potatoes by his second in command.

"Um...Ailyn really is...aggressive, isn't she?" Sinon said softly, still a little shy with her new companions. Argo and Asuna exchanged glances before their shoulders drooped and they nodded with twin sighs.

"Yeah, it makes getting close with Kirito hard." Asuna pouted as she muttered under her breath. "I'm never going to get my chance with him at this rate..."

"Oh~? What was that, Asunaaaaaa~? Are you crushing on Kiri-bou~?" Argo said, eyes gleaming with mischief as she dragged the other girls name out over several syllables. The hazel-eyed rapier-wielder immediately blushed and started stammering denials before rushing off after the rapidly vanishing pair. Argo smirked at Sinon before following.

"Oh, what have I gotten myself into?" Sinon sighed wryly, before smiling lightly and setting off at a rapid pace to catch up with Kirito and her new friends.

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"So, how did you and Sinon meet, Kirito?" Asuna asked curiously, wanting to know not only more about her as a comrade and potential friend, but mostly as a potential rival for Kirito's affections.

"Well," Kirito hedged as the strolled down the path towards Selam, hands laced together behind his head. "It's a bit of a long story..."

"We've got time." deadpanned Argo, Asuna, and Ailyn, gesturing as one to the endless road before them, and he sighed before nodding.

"Troublesome." he grumbled, before taking a deep breath. "Ever since we arrived on the second floor, I've been leaving while you girls sleep to go train and find more quests and good farming zones. I've also been doing a little...well, some call it bounty hunting but I prefer to think of it as delivering justice."

"Kirito...do you mean to tell me that you've been going off alone in the middle of the night to solo packs of mobs or to hunt down oranges and reds?" Ailyn asked with deceptive calm, referring to players that have committed crimes and had warrants or bounties put out on them.

"I'm tell you that I did what I had to do to keep you, and Asuna -and Argo, when she joined us full-time- safe and well supplied, as well as protecting other players be removing threats to their safety." Kirito replied with calm and deadly seriousness, none of his normal laid-back personality visible or audible in his body language or voice. His eyes held her own for an eternity before she looked away, worry written across her features, and he continued. "Anyway, on one of these little excursions I ran into Sinon here, who was going to be subjected to a fate worse than death by a pack of oranges on my List for sexual harassment. They were going to...take the next step with her, as she was a solo player and thus "disappear-able". I dealt with them and then had my hands full keeping her from killing herself for the next day or so, before I convinced her to go back the starting city instead of killing herself."

"But not before telling me that even though I had been nearly raped, I shouldn't give up, but keep on fighting. Fight for my freedom, my safety, and to see my family again." Sinon said softly, gazing at him, and he flashed her a warm smile and a slight nod. "After all, if I had killed myself, they would have won. Write, Kirito?"

"That's right." he replied firmly, and the other three girls were silent before all three hugged Sinon tightly, murmuring various sweet and kind things to her, showing solidarity for the almost-rape victim despite not knowing her well. Kirito smiled at the quartet, glad the girls still had the ability to care about strangers. Many players, he knew, were starting to lose that as the months dragged on.

"So, that's the the day you sent us a mail saying you would catch up with us, and to spend the day in the market, ne Kirito?" Asuna asked, and said young man nodded in confirmation. Pouting slightly, Asuna glared at him lightly. "Why didn't you tell us what you were doing?"

"Didn't want to worry you. Besides, when it comes to scouting or bounty hunting, its best that I work alone." Kirito admitted firmly, and Ailyn looked at him sharply, well aware of what he was saying with the last few words: _Don't get involved, this is my problem. Stay home, stay safe, stay out of the way._

"Doesn't matter, because once the guild is official, we can all go together." she said just as firmly, and Kirito gave her a hard look.

"Unacceptable. There are few female players that most of them are recognizable, and all of you stand out especially as members of an elite clearing unit. It's easy for me to disguise myself so the criminals can't figure out who I am, but if they recognize you, we could all be killed in our sleep. Leave this to me." he commanded, tone brooking no argument, and Ailyn growled angrily before standing down, even if only for the moment.

The other girls were spared further drama as the group finally came in sight of the main city of the Sixth Floor, the great City of Sails, Selam. A massive port city, it was surrounded by high, alabaster-white stone walls, with ballista and catapults standing poised to drive of raiders by land or by sea at any time, night or day. A massive mercantile fleet was protected by an equally large navy while platoons of armed and armored soldiers could be seen patrolling the outlying fields and small villages.

"There it is. Come on, girls." Kirito grinned, and set of in a jog for the city, the girls hurrying after him.

Fifteen minutes later, the quintet was wandering through the streets of the enormous and bustling central marketplace. Dozens of NPC vendors hawked their wares, and Kirito swore he saw some other players already setting up temporary stalls to sell their own.

"So, where to first, girls?" Kirito asked, and immediately received a universal answer.

"The Guild Registrar." they chorused in perfect unison, and Kirito sighed, defeated, before allowing himself to be dragged along by the quartet. Out of the marketplace and to the city square they went, passing many a player or NPC guard, to stop outside of the Guild Registrar. A large line stretched out the door, and down the side of the building as players waited to form their guilds.

"Oh well, look at the massive line. Too bad, no guild being formed, let's go check the market!" Kirito said hastily, turning to lead the girls away. He didn't know how so many players were there already, but he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. However, four hands grabbing the back of his jacket stopped him, and he swore he was crying anime-style tears as they dragged him bodily towards the building.

"Oh my, look at this long line!" Ailyn sighed loudly, a strange breeze blowing out of nowhere as she loosened her armor and pouted outrageously, scarlet-gold hair streaming in the wind like something out of an anime. "Oh, we've walked for hours and I'm so tired! This line will take forever!"

Kirito sweat-dropped with a dumbfounded expression as dozens of male players eagerly threw themselves all over each other to offer her their place in line, all hoping to make a good impression on the red-haired goddess and her friends. Somehow, none of them noticed Kirito until the girls had already secured a place at the head of the line and Ailyn shoved him to the counter with a smirk.

"I'd like to form a guild, please." Kirito caved with a sigh, and the girls squealed happily as the NPC nodded, turning to a fresh page in his book.

"Name of the guild to be formed?" he inquired, and Kirito looked down at the ground thought long and hard before smiling slowly, raising his head to look back at the man.

"Shattered Chains." he declared, and the girls looked at each other with raised brows while the NPC wrote the guild name down.

"Guild Leader?" came the next question.

"Kirito."

"Guild Lieutenant?"

"Ailyn."

"Headquarters?"

"None, yet. Waiting for a higher floor."

"Any other guild members to name at this time?"

"Asuna, Argo, and Sinon."

"Please draw your desired guild emblem on this pad of paper."

"I'm a horrible artist." Kirito groaned, glancing at the girls. "Any of you any good?"

"I am, Kirito. Just describe it to me with as much detail as you can." Sinon said, taking the pad of paper and a pen.

"A forearm with a broken shackle and a clenched fist. Umm, maybe have a chain breaking of the shackle too. Three, maybe four links?" Kirito mumbled, picturing it in his head. "Black and white, of course. Make a stark contrast."

"Like this?" she asked, showing him the picture she had drawn, and he smiled with a nod.

"Perfect, Sinon. That's amazingly well drawn." Kirito praised the now-blushing girl, passing the pad over to the NPC, who accepted it. (**A/N: ** ?pic=vik2kz&s=6. **Link to the picture I used for guild emblem.) **A flash of light later, and all five of them had the guild emblem on the front and back of their armor, the pommels of their swords and, in Ailyn's case, on the face of her shield.

After paying the guild-creation fee, Kirito and Co. left for the city's biggest inn, messaging the more trusted members of their raiding group to join them. Kirito offered each membership in the guild, though only Agil accepted, as Klein and his friends had already created their own guild, Fuurinkazen.

Thus it was that the group of friends sat eating, drinking, and laughing together. Klein finally got to his feet, raising the mug of ale in his hand, his normal roguish smile on his face.

"To our guilds, Shattered Chains and Fuurinkazen! May we clear this damn game, kick Kayaba Akihiko's ass, and become heroes! KANPAI!"

"KANPAI!" the group cheered, jumping to their feet and clashing their mugs together in a toast.

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There we go. The latest chapter of Sword Art Online: Shattered Chains. The guild is formed, the first players are joining, and the game is really beginning! What will come next?

Remember, Read and Review Please and Thank you! Tells me that updating is worth the effort!


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